White Wedding
by Frodo Pancakes
Summary: Six months after the events of Frozen, it's Anna and Kristoff's wedding day but when all Elsa wants is for Anna's big day to be perfect, disaster looms on the horizon. Kristanna, some ElsaxOC, I don't own Frozen.
1. Chapter 1

There was a knock at the door of the royal chambers in Arendelle. The queen stirred and attempted to sit up, finding that the braid she kept her hair in had become tangled and almost lodged in her mouth

"Who is it?" she spluttered pulling it out of her mouth. Great she thought, this is going to take ages to redo.

"It's me your majesty" came the voice of Kai, the servant who'd worked for her family before she was born. "It's time to get up and ready"

"Of course" muttered Elsa, accidentally dusting parts of the walls with snowflakes as she stretched. "...ready for what?"

"Your sister's wedding" came the quizzical reply.

"My sister's...wedding..." she muttered as she drew her curtains. She rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up and looked outside to see snow. Snow she hadn't brought down herself. "Winter..." she murmured to herself. Every year before this had reminded her of hiding inside her room when the snow came. And how Anna would always ask to build a snowman...Anna...Anna... "It's...it's Anna's wedding day!" she exclaimed, bolting out the door and rushing straight past her very bemused manservant.

She ran down the hallway, using her powers to alter her nightgown into the regal sky-blue dress she was known for wearing and attempting to twist her hair together back into it's braid, without success. She laughed and laughed as she ran past all the servants opening curtains and lighting candles to take to the chapel in the castle's courtyard.

Looking down the hallway to Anna's room, she shot a jet of ice forward, turning the floor into a long straight ice rink. She turned backwards and shot cooled air from her hands, sliding backwards along the iced up corridor.

"Hey Elsa!" came an excited voice "what are y-whoaaa oh boy!" it continued as Elsa opened her eyes and span around just in time to see herself bundle into Olaf, the ever cheerful snowman. "Whoa, talk about being knocked off your feet...am I right?" giggled Olaf as he saw his legs and rear end attempt to wander away. Elsa brushed snowflakes from Olaf's flurry off his head and grabbed the lower half of his body

"Here you go" she said happily, reattaching the snowman's parts together, before pulling him into the tightest and warmest hug she ever had, inadvertently causing his head to pop off.

"Whoa" exclaimed Olaf, breaking away to catch his own head. "What's got you so happy your majesty? Is it all the snow? I bet it's the snow. It's the snow right?"

"No no no Olaf, it's Anna's wedding day!" Elsa cried, spinning him round before bolting off down towards Anna's room leaving the snowman spinning happily on his behind.

"Oh yeah the wedding! Well isn't that just wonderful I can just see it now with the white flow..." Olaf's voice trailed away as Elsa continued to slide down the halls, past the windows and doors before coming gracefully to a halt outside Anna's door.

"Anna, Anna, Anna! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" she said pounding on the door as the ice she'd left behind dissipated as quickly as it had come.

"Wha...what?" came the startled voice from inside as Elsa flung the doors open and jumped onto Anna's bed to shake her awake. Anna's hair was all over the place, making Elsa's bed head seem incredibly mild in comparison.

"Come on Anna you have to wake up now" Elsa shouted gleefully at her sister, jumping off and pulling her curtains open.

"Go...go play by yourself" Anna yawned as she fell down onto her pillows and snored. Elsa looked away with mild amusement and blew a strand of hair off her face. She crept over to Anna and pulled open one of her eyes.

"It's your wedding day..." she said quietly with a smile before pulling away.

"MY WEDDING DAY!" Anna said, sitting bolt upright and knocking her head directly against Elsa's. Both sisters laughed awkwardly and rubbed the sore spots on their heads as they heard a voice making it's way down the hall.

"...even though all of Kristoff's family wouldn't be there except there's so many of them so I guess they won't all be allowed in the church but I hope that, hey guys!" came Olaf's voice as he rounded the door and waddled into the room. "Man you guys don't look so good, what'd you do, bump heads?" he said laughing to himself.

"Yeah...something like" said Anna, flinching as she prodded the spot her forehead had connected with Elsa's chin. "What a great start to the day."

"Hey come on" Elsa laughed, "What could possibly go wrong at your wedding?".


	2. Chapter 2

"I can't do this,"

"What are you talking about Anna?" Elsa looked quizzically at her sister. Anna was sat in front of her mirror with 3 servants teasing her hair from the comical mess it had become during her nights sleep,"

"I don't know it's just all important and I'm going to have to stand up there in front of all those people and what if I fall over or what if Kristoff doesn't like the dress or wha-oops," Anna raved wildly before accidentally batting one of the women attempting to right a tangle above her forehead.

"Quite already Anna dear," she winced.

"Oh come on Anna," laughed Elsa, "How can you not be ready, you two are just so perfect, and it's the first day of snow, and I'm decorating," she winked. Truth be told Elsa was just as nervous. She hoped that Anna would like the ice sculptures she'd been practising making over the past week, including one of her and Kristoff dancing which she'd found almost impossible to get just right.

"I don't know, does everyone get like this?" Anna continued to fret.

"Well think how I felt when it was coronation day" Elsa replied, forming a few snowflakes to dance around her fingers as she paced. "Hey where'd Olaf go?"

"Probably the garden, he's been going on about making snowman buddies to hang around with. I don't think he quite understands that they don't all come to life,"

"Should I tell him?"

"Don't you d-...well at least don't tell him today, I couldn't bear the thought of him being upset on my wedding day."

Elsa paced over to the window. She saw two ships that weren't normally docked in Arendelle had already arrived and three more were sailing down towards the harbour. Royal Weddings must be a big deal she thought to herself. She gazed up towards the mountains where her ice palace must still be standing. It would be so much quieter there, but far less fun.

"Whaddya think?" she heard Anna say.

"Oh wow,"

Anna's hair was done up almost identically to how it was on Elsa's coronation day, with fresh flowers woven into the back, and on top balanced behind the braid across the front of her head sat a small tiara, smaller and less showy than the one Elsa had been crowned in, with a small ruby set in it.

"Good wow? Like I know it must be wow cause they're doing it like how I'm not wow usually like you're wow but like different wow and I...have no idea what I'm talking about," Anna rambled incoherently. Clearly the magnitude of the day was getting to her.

* * *

><p>In the Chapel in the castle's courtyard, Kristoff was pacing back and forth with Sven looking excitedly about the place. He felt wrong in a suit, it wasn't exactly him, although then again neither was marrying into a royal family. Sven seemed perfectly in place. His fur had been trimmed and brushed, his Silver medal hung from Arendelle's colours polished and gleamed and his antlers had tiny snowflake designs along their lengths, put there by Elsa the previous night.<p>

Kristoff did not feel as happy as Sven. The suit, while it felt nice and must have been made of something expensive, something Kristoff wouldn't have even tried guessing the name of, but it didn't feel like him. Nor did the cuffs with silver buttons or the red sash with silver designs across it tied round his waist, or the black leather boots up to his knees.

"How do I look Sven?"

_"You look great buddy,"_

"Come on you're just saying that so I'll stop worrying,"

_"Of course I'm not,"_

"Are you sure buddy?"

"Ahem" came a cough from behind them. Kristoff turned to see a very bemused looking bishop stood in between the pews.

"Oh, I was just errr, that is Sven was-"

"Yes sir I do understand but I most politely ask that Sven not be in the church any longer than is necessary,"

"Are you kidding? Sven's my best buddy I can't ask him to leave,"

"I'm sorry sir but animals aren't allowed in the chapel. I've been told we must make an exception under the princesses orders for the ceremony but your wedding isn't happening yet is it?"

"Uhh...you gonna be ok buddy?"

_"I'll be fine, I'll go check on the sled,"_

And off Sven wandered, leaving a stressed looking Kristoff and the bishop looking extremely confused.

In the courtyard, Olaf was already sat upon Kristoff's sled, humming to himself. The words 'Just Married' were painted in elaborate script along the back, with several ice flowers over the length of the sled and a silver gilded harness for Sven to be hooked into. The day after the wedding, Anna and Kristoff were planning on visiting the troll colony, so there were also 2 guards checking over the sled.

"Hi Sven, how come you're not with Kristoff?" Olaf said, first grinning with glee, then immediately changing mid sentence to an incredibly dejected look.

Sven made a few yowling and growling noises, and Olaf's expression changed to one of bewilderment as fast as it had changed the first time.

"Okay yeah I don't get what you're saying when Kristoff's not translating but hey, it's a happy day so it's all good. I'm going to the gardens, wanna come?"

Sven jumped around excitedly as Olaf jumped on his back.

* * *

><p>The two sisters sat on Anna's bed with Anna erratically switching back and forth between elation and panic.<p>

"Well yes obviously I wish Kristoff's family were here but I don't think the kingdom is quite ready for hundreds of trolls to come rolling in. Oh maybe we should have waited longer."

"You definitely waited longer than the last time," Elsa smirked.

"Oh shut up." Anna giggled and pushed her sister over. "Hey what's that laughing?"

The pair of the walked out to the window outside Anna's room to see Olaf and Sven running around in the snow, with Sven ruining any chance he had of looking decent for the wedding.

"I think I'm just gonna, go play...for a bit, you'll be able to sort out all the last minute things right?" Anna said, before bolting off down the hallway.

"Wait where are you going?" Elsa called.

"To build a snowman!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey Olaf, wait up!"

Olaf turned around on the sled to see Anna running towards him wearing her nightgown.

"Hey Anna! Wow is that you're wedding dress, you look wonderful"

Anna paused and looked down.

"Erm...Olaf this is my nightgown"

"Oh, well then I can't wait to see how beautiful you'll look in your wedding dress? Why aren't you wearing it? Or is it a thing for after you're married or something or-"

"No, no Olaf I'm just...I...Do you wanna...build a snowman?"

"That's what I was gonna say! Me and Sven were just going to, isn't that right Sven?"

Anna turned to see Sven catching snowflakes on his tongue. He looked cleaner than he ever had before, but she got the feeling he was going to ruin that with the blanket of snow that had covered Arendelle. Anna covered her arms as she walked, once again she'd gone out into the cold without paying any heed to what she was wearing, although at least this time the kingdom wasn't suffering from an eternal winter, just regular winter.

Anna looked at Olaf talking away happily to Sven. He was talking about the snowman they were going to build and the wedding and how he hoped there was going to be ice skating afterwards. Why couldn't she think like him? She didn't understand why she had these feelings.

"Hey Anna are you ok?"

"Huh? Oh I was just...it's nothing Olaf, I've just got cold feet"

"Well that's probably cause you're not wearing winter boots" laughed Olaf as he jumped down into the snow and gathered some snow together to make a base.

"No it's...it mean I'm nervous about getting married."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I guess it's the thought of being up there in front of all those people and Kristoff isn't exactly the type for a royal wedding and...what's that look for?"

Both Olaf and Sven had raised their eyebrows, or at least Sven did before he got distracted by all the snowflakes again.

"Well the way I see it" began Olaf "is you're marrying Kristoff because you love him"

"Well yeah-"

"So all you're doing is going through one small ceremony so you can spend the rest of your life with someone who loves you enough to like...well he did ride across a fjord in a snowstorm after taking you up a mountain but before taking you all the way back from the troll village so he-"

"Yes yes I know Olaf, I was kinda there so y'know"

"Then what's the problem?" Olaf asked sadly. "I mean I'd marry Kristoff if I could"

Anna looked at the snowman. Then at Sven. Sven was looking extremely bewildered, as if trying to comprehend Kristoff and Olaf getting married. The reindeer had white powder over most of his face, the servant who'd brushed his fur would be furious.

Olaf on the other hand stood waiting for an answer. All Anna had spent her life doing was wishing her sister hadn't shut her out, but she couldn't do the same. It was just cold feet, nothing more. She wanted to be with Kristoff more than anything.

"Olaf I-"

"Princess Anna!" came a rather shrill voice behind her, Anna turned to see the woman who'd been doing her hair, looking rather flustered and irritated. "Come back inside at once, you'll catch your death and you need to get ready, chop chop!"

"Now look here lady!" began Olaf, removing his right arm with his left and pointing it at her for added effect. "Anna can build a snowman any time she wants!"

Anna looked back and forth. If there were any doubts then Olaf had surely already helped her get over them. She took his right arm and stuck it back in for him.

"I'll be fine Olaf...just get someone to clean off Sven." Anna laughed, and turned to walk back into the Palace.


	4. Chapter 4

**In case anyone's wondering I'm uploading a chapter a day until I've run out, at which point it'll be a bit slower cause I basically suck at deadlines or keeping myself on track with a project. If you really want drop me a message to provoke me into writing or alleviate my writers block.**

Elsa walked down the halls quietly. There was light, there was sound, there was happiness, people were walking excitedly knowing that tomorrow the light and sound wouldn't end. She thought back to her coronation and how scared she'd been the morning before it, terrified that everyone would know her secret.

And she'd been right to be scared, she'd had men try to murder her and almost killed the one person she loved most in the world.

But now all that was behind her, the only thing she had to fear now was dealing with foreign dignitaries and ambassadors coming before the wedding,

She glanced out of the window overlooking the courtyard and could see Anna being hurried back inside by Gerda. The base of her nightgown and slippers were damp where she'd trodden in the snow and she was shivering. Elsa hadn't ever been cold, not even in the harshest winters. She envied Anna a bit for how she could feel the cold, but then again she was extremely grateful to her immunity to the winter chill. After all, she didn't want Anna getting ill on her wedding day, but she was grateful for her own inability to catch cold.

"Ahem" came a cough from behind her, she turned to see Kai. "Your majesty"

"Hello Kai" she replied brightly "Can I help you with anything?"

"Well your majesty" he began, drawing out a list from his pocket "Several of the wedding guests have already arrived, including some from the islands to the west and the princess of Corona-"

"Oh well, I suppose I should go greet them" Elsa said nervously, her hands involuntarily beginning to grasp at her braid. Before turning to walk off in the other direction.

"Ahem" came the call again.

"Yes Kai what is it?" said the visibly more agitated Elsa.

"Queen Elsa, you may wish to calm down, I fear you are getting aggravated." He replied. Both of them turned their heads to the window, which was rapidly icing over, with frost appearing on the walls adjacent to it.

"Right sorry I just...I'm a bit distracted"

"If I may be so bold, concealing it won't help" said Kai sympathetically.

"You...you may" said Elsa with a sense of unease in her voice. "I think the sense of the occasion is getting to me like it's getting to Anna. This is her day not mine I just...I don't want to ruin it for her."

"Pardon me majesty, but how could you ruin it?"

"I don't know...making a scene like I did for my coronation?"

"Without wishing to seem rude Queen Elsa, I don't think you could possibly make a scene. And what's more, I've watched the two of you grow up. Anna loves you deeply, always has and always will, and I believe she'll truly be happy as long as you're there with her today."

The kind words of one of the people who'd known of her gift all her life warmed Elsa's heart, and the frost began to subside.

"Thank you Kai...I know I can be...that is I mean to say" Elsa mumbled awkwardly.

"It is alright your majesty" the kindly man replied. Elsa pulled him into a brief hug. He hugged back for the shortest of moments before stepping back. She was glad to still have someone as a fatherly figure, she still missed her parents dearly. He cleared his throat again and took out the paper. "As I was saying there are more guests arriving, erm...including two delegates from the Southern Isles here to make amends for the slights made against your family."

"Slights?!" Elsa exclaimed incredulously.

"Well yes, the message was rather diplomatically worded" Kai replied uneasily. "And there's something else."

"What else?" Elsa nervously took the paper from Kai and began to skim read. It began to crinkle with the cold she was impulsively emanating from her hands.

"It seems some of Master Kristoff's...family have arrived and are currently inside the chapel"

"Oh...oh no...they'll, I have to...excuse me then" Elsa spluttered incoherently, before bolting off down towards the main door. Kai tucked the note back away before the window burst open without warning and blew a heavy load of snow right into him. "Sorry" Elsa called back as she ran.

"Quite alright y-pffft, your majesty" Kai called, brushing the snow off himself and closing the window. "At least I hope it is" he murmured, glancing out the window as more snow began to fall.

Kristoff meanwhile was having a rather tumultuous morning. As if the bishop admonishing him for having Sven in hadn't been enough, five trolls had suddenly appeared with the news that more of them were coming. The bishop looked like he was going to explode as three young trolls clambered up Kristoff's back and arms, causing him to struggle to hold their weight. The two trolls who had served as Kristoff's adoptive parents, Bulda and Cliff, told the three troll children to shoo and give them a minute.

"Look guys," Kristoff began nervously, fully aware of the bishops glaring eyes boring into him, "I know you mean well but Anna and I said we were coming when we were married and you couldn't come, and you know why!"

"He's not even glad to see us" grumbled Cliff. "I bet Sven would be"

"Look it's not..." Kristoff began before sighing and pulling the two into a hug "It's great to see you two."

"Didn't think we'd miss our Kristoff's special day" Bulda fawned, then Cliff jabbed her in the shoulder.

"You can't get married today." he stated bluntly.

"What?!"

"Grand Pabbie sent us. He's coming to Arendelle and says terrible things will happen today. You have to postpone the wedding."

"What? I-no!" Kristoff began, before the bishop grabbed his shoulder.

"Young man I have had enough. First the reindeer, then these trolls come in and tell you to stop the wedding, well quite frankly I-"

The door slammed open and a freezing gust blew in the door as all seven pairs of eyes in the room turned to see Elsa run in. She glanced around the room and looked curiously at the bishop still holding Kristoff.

"Bishop..can you...please" Elsa panted, and gestured to the door.

"M-m-majesty, I..I was only"

"Please just, leave..now"

The bishop let go of Kristoff shooting him a final look of annoyance before walking out indignantly, pulling his cloak up around his shoulders as he stepped outside and closed the doors.

"Elsa, are you okay?" Kristoff asked as he motioned over to support the queen, obviously slightly worse for wear from sprinting to the chapel.

"Not-n-not really, look what are they doing here" Elsa said as she gestured to the trolls.

"Well that's a fine welcome" retorted one of the younger trolls.

"Yeah who d'you think you are lady?" said the other one jumping on the first's shoulders.

"This Lady" Kristoff began brusquely, drawing himself up to his full height and leaning over the two young trolls "Is Queen of Arendelle and my sister-in-law...or..at least in a few hours she will be"

"Oh" went one, while the other curled into a boulder and rolled off into the corner.

"Majesty" Bulda said with a small bow, "Forgive our coming but we were sent by Grand Pabbie. You remember him surely don't you?"

"Yes I...of course, but why?"

"He speaks of grave dangers to come and is coming to Arendelle. We were sent to warn you."

"What...when?"

"We don't know dearie, all we know is they'll happen soon. You must call off the wedding"

Elsa grew more agitated by the second. Kristoff's head turned nervously as he heard the windows rattle with some increasingly loud gusts.

"Look, Kristoff, they can't stay out in the open for everyone to see, they have to be hidden somewhere" Elsa cried folding her arms nervously.

"Of..of course Elsa" Kristoff ran over to the door and called out into the wind and snow for Sven. He turned back to see snow beginning to spiral around Elsa, who was grinding her palms against her head, her breathing fast and heavy. He walked over and pulled her into a hug. "Hey, it'll be alright okay?"

"No no you don't understand. I just... you can't tell Anna about this. At all. She can't know, she's already so nervous"

"What nervous about...about marrying me?" Kristoff had previously been harbouring doubts about whether it was right for him to marry into a royal family, the thought of Anna being scared to marry him felt cruel.

"No no just...nervous about..the day and...everything" Elsa realised she was probably saying more than she should.

"Well..I'm gonna go find her" Kristoff said, turning out of the room, before slipping on ice that had formed beneath his feet, landing heavily on his back.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry" Elsa said, helping him to his feet. The smart boots he was wearing provided less grip than his usual footwear. "You can't go see her, it's bad luck and I...I don't think we need any more bad luck right now."

"Okay, then I'm making sure you're okay" Kristoff said warmly. She smiled and pulled him into a hug, she'd enjoyed having Kristoff around, he felt like a reassuring older brother who'd made her family whole again. The pair of them turned upon hearing the clopping of Sven's hooves on the Chapel floor.

"Hey buddy" Kristoff said warmly. "Look I need you to take these guys somewhere...somewhere they won't be seen. Take them to the drawing room or something" He pointed to the five trolls, all of whom ran over to greet Sven with the younger ones climbing on his antlers.

Elsa smirked at the state Sven had gotten himself into, his fur was covered in thin powdery snow and the snowflake patterns gilded onto his antlers had all but vanished. Kristoff turned back to Elsa as his adoptive family walked out of the chapel.

"You alright?" He asked sympathetically.

"Yeah I'll be fine I just need to...well some of the guests will be in the great hall before the ceremony and I'll need to go see them."

"Oh okay...important guests, fancy party...I can do that" Kristoff mumbled, straightening his jacket and dusting himself off. He clicked his feet together and puffed out his chest in an attempt to look regal. Elsa laughed and the wind outside grew less violent.

"Come on" she giggled "Lets see if you can impress all these guests" as they walked out into the cool calm air.


	5. Chapter 5

The sky had cleared again, if only for a moment, before a few more snowflakes began to fall. Elsa could hear Kristoff muttering under his breath. She struggled to hear but it became louder, if only due to a slight echo and decrease in noise, when they stepped into the hallway leading towards the ballroom where most of the guests were being directed to. Be formal he was saying. Act like you belong, you're about to marry a princess...

"Kristoff, what are you talking about?" Elsa said, looking up at him slightly. He had a sullen look on his face.

"I don't know, I guess I haven't ever had to act like well...whatever you are when you marry a royal."

"Well I think the proper term if she was queen would be prince consort, but I'm not even sure if you get a title. I thought 'Official Arendelle ice master and deliverer' suited you quite well."

Kristoff smirked, but it didn't seem to improve his mood.

"Look Kristoff," Elsa said, stopping and causing him to pause and turn around, "I've learned it's better to let it all out than to hide it all away. Just act like yourself and everything will be fine. Although I wouldn't recommend doing your Sven voice in front of the guests. Or...mentioning that you were raised by trolls... you shouldn't do that"

"Doesn't seem much like letting it go to me Elsa"

"Well it was just a personal recommendation that big things like that all coming out at once can, well for example they can freeze the whole place"

Both of them laughed at the joke. Kristoff knew exactly why he shouldn't say all of these things, but what would he say? Surely all these important ambassadors and court members all schmoozed and had their stories about whatever it was that dukes and lords did. He couldn't wait until the whole day was over.

"What did you feel like on your coronation day? Like, before you went all ice crazy?"

Elsa looked a bit put out, pulling on arm close to her body with the other.

"I suppose I couldn't wait for it to end. The first excuse I got to call it off and get everyone out of the palace I took. When I look back at it I wasn't just scared, I was selfish. All those years for Anna wanting something, and I took it away from her." Elsa looked wistfully out of the window, more people were arriving, and most of them wouldn't be allowed in the chapel so they'd be shepherded into the great hall where they'd see the queen before the ceremony. "Although of course if I hadn't then Anna might have married Hans and then that would have gone really really badly for everyone involved. I'm glad she picked the better guy"

Kristoff smiled. For someone so cold Elsa could be so heartwarming. The pair of them walked to the doors.

"Well here we go, you ready Kristoff?"

"As I'll ever be"

Elsa strode in through the side door as she had on her coronation day, eyes closed, shoulders back, head held high and stood majestically before opening her eyes and seeing an empty room with no one but Kai standing near her looking bemused and two guards by the doors. She turned her head back and shot Kristoff a thin smile as he double over laughing.

"Ahem, your majesty, we haven't let anyone in yet."

"Well I can see that" the queen laughed "I'll do that again" she walked back out, looking somewhat less confident than she had done walking in. "So next time it'd be great if someone told me the room was empty."

Kristoff struggled to muffle his laughter behind his hands as the pair of them heard the doors open and the chatter or several people began to fill the halls. Elsa turned around and resumed her pose.

"Second times the charm" she whispered to Kristoff. He smirked as she did the exact same motion again, almost gliding across the floor with her white snowflake cape seeming to float behind her. He braced himself for the moment when he would have to walk over to his place.

"Queen Elsa of Arendelle" came the announcement from Kai to a small round of applause. "Kristoff Bjorgman, fiancee of Princess Anna" He tilted his head up and began to stride across to his place to Elsa's left, but stumbled slightly as he got closer. The crowd gasped as he almost stumbled into Elsa but managed to right himself. Elsa twitched her head to the left to see Kristoff right himself. Her eyes widened with slight disbelief and his face went red. There was a slight murmur and some stifled laughter from the assembled guests, though this subsided very quickly when Elsa returned her shining blue eyes to look at the crowd. A somewhat quieter applause followed then subsided.

"Well that could not have gone any worse" Kristoff said extremely quietly.

"Oh I don't know, you could have knocked the queen over, I hear that's a very serious crime" Elsa replied with a smile.

The pair of them saw two figures moving through the crowd, neither excessively tall nor short. Elsa grew unnerved as she saw two more guards line up behind them, casting them looks of contempt that one seemed not to register, while the other glanced back and gave them a cheeky grin. Kai moved forward slowly when the pair of them reached the front of the crowd, most of whom were now talking amongst themselves.

"Your majesty" he began with a cough, "Magnus, Ambassador from the court of the Southern Isles and..." He paused awkwardly.

"Anders" came the reply.

Magnus stood gave a small bow before standing up straight again. His hair was a dark brown, almost black, slicked down away from his forehead, emphasising the large sideburns which turned into mutton chops as they joined his moustache hanging from his face. He was rather tall, standing almost a head above his companion, with a large chest and poorly disguised gut squashed into a white jacket about 2 sizes too small, from which dangled 3 rows of shining medals running from breast to breast.

Anders on the other hand was much shorter, he would barely come over Elsa's head if the pair of them were on level ground. His outfit looked oddly familiar to Elsa, white jacket with a blue waistcoat and shirt underneath it. It resembled the outfit Hans had worn during the non formal moments of his visit over the summer, though was far less adorned, lacking epaulettes or golden buttons, and he wore one glove, stretching up his left forearm over the jacket, while his right hand was bare. He was stocky, with a flat nose and curly dark brown that draped over his forehead into his eyes, and dangled down past his ears. His arms were folded and his expression surly.

Elsa seethed. Since her coronation there had been barely any contact between Arendelle and the Southern Isles, these two coming on Anna's wedding day was outrageous.

"Your majesty, first may I say what an honour and privilege it is to meet you" Magnus stated theatrically, fingering the medals across his chest nervously.

"Regretfully, ambassador, I cannot say the same" Esla said icily, standing to her full height. Kristoff shot the ambassador a filthy look, but this seemed to do little do deter him.

"Please understand, the actions of Prince Hans were not endorsed by any other member of the court of-"

"Yes yes I am aware" Elsa interrupted. "I do not wish to hear the same speech I have had delivered and read to me three times since my coronation, now what do you want?" The ambassador's expression seemed to wilt slightly.

"I wish for you to re-open trade with the southern Isles, please, forgive our kingdom for the actions of one boy"

"One of the royal family" Elsa snapped, before turning and striding off towards the edges of the crowd.

"Your majesty, please be reasonable" he cried and began to follow her. He continued an obviously rehearsed plea while as one of the guards began to follow and grabbed him by the shoulder. Anders on the other hand turned the other way and began muttering to himself. Kristoff began to follow him and listened intently.

"It's alright. It's obvious you don't belong" he said barely audibly. "Just keep it up till you're out of here"

"Hey" said Kristoff brusquely grabbing him by the shoulder and spinning him round. He looked young, like he was barely in his twenties, and sported a days growth of stubble on his chin. "Look I don't know what you've heard about me but don't talk about me like that or I'll...I'll.."

Anders merely raised one eyebrow in response that disappeared behind his fringe.

"Erm, no offence if I should but I don't know you, I was talking about me. But hey if you're having problems fitting in I can at least relate."

"No I fit in just...who on earth are you?" Kristoff said confusedly. The second guard motioned to grab Anders before Kristoff glanced sideways and gestured for him to stop.

"Anders Magnusson, son of the ambassador of the Southern Isles and brother-in-law to Prince number twelve." He said monotonously, extending his right hand. Kristoff stared blankly at the outstretched hand. "Look it's not as fun as it sounds okay" Anders added sarcastically. Kristoff shook his hand once, slowly, before retracting his arm.

"That guy is your father?"

"Yeah and he's in deep trouble with the court if he can't convince the queen to reopen trade with us, or so I understand, I'm not exactly high up in the pecking order. If you want to get my dad off your Queen's back just point in any direction and say you saw some lord from Germany with a huge moustache, he's been trying to make a breakthrough in some diplomatic thing or something with him for weeks."

"Well...why can't you? He's your father after all"

"I'm bored and he wouldn't listen to me anyway. Happy wedding day".

And with that he walked off. Kristoff turned his head for a second to see the Magnus almost pushing two guards over in an attempt to get back beside Elsa. Before heading over Kristoff turned his head back to check for Anders, but he was gone.

"Would it have been too much to ask for today to go smoothly?" Kristoff cursed under his breath before wandering over to Elsa, who was making polite conversation with a Duke and Duchess from Spain.

"Kristoff" she said warmly when she spotted him, before giving a slight wave to the couple "excuse me for a moment" she paced over to Kristoff. "Hey, how's impressing guests going?"

"Well umm, what happened to the guy from the Southern Isles?"

"I told him I'd speak with him tomorrow and not before, the guards should be taking him back to his ship. Can you have some take the other one back as well?"

"What that Anders guy, he's sort of...gone"

"Gone?"

"Yeah he just vanished when I looked away"

Elsa beckoned for two guards to come over and began to speak in a hushed tone.

"There's a boy from the Southern Isles here, the ambassador's son. Even if he's not doing anything wrong I want him taken to his ship until tomorrow. Is that understood?"

"Yes your majesty" came the reply from both of them as they raised their heads and attempted to survey the room for him.

A small patch of frost began to form on the wall directly behind Elsa.

"Elsa, calm down" said Kristoff quietly but firmly. "Getting upset about him won't help"

"It's just, I ruined the last big day Anna had." Elsa said, fiddling with her braid. "I won't let anything ruin today, I just won't!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Well I'm out of chapters that I've finished since I've basically spent all my free time watching Twitch plays Pokemon...help...so every update might take a couple of days, if anyone's actually following this then I hope you don't mind and bear with me, it's worth it if someone enjoys it all the way through**

Anna paced up and down her room. She'd spent the last fifteen minutes having 3 maids fuss around her putting on her wedding dress and had been left alone for the first time today. And all she could do was think.

Why was she so terrified of marrying Kristoff? It was barely going to be any different to now, he was living in Arendelle Castle and they saw each other every day, and after all the years of trying to connect with her, he was the only thing in the world that could even come close to her trying to spend time with her sister.

She turned and looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't feel like a princess waiting to be married, she never really had. Princesses probably weren't meant to spend all their days sliding down staircases and talking to paintings. But for once she felt she really looked like one. She had a scarlet corset over the white dress, covered in intricate designs, her sleeves ran down the full length of her arms and covered her hands. She glanced over at a small cushioned pedestal where a pair of intricate dress shoes made by Elsa were sitting. She looked at her hands and wondered if this was how Elsa felt on her coronation day.

Don't be silly she thought, Elsa must have felt far worse than this. She looked down at her hands. Tops covered. She flipped them over. Palms uncovered. She was going to be the palms. Not hiding, not concealing everything.

She loved everything about Kristoff, his less than normal social manner, the way he acted awkwardly in formal situations, the way he played his lute. She was sure she was imagining him playing the lute and hummed a little melody.

But she wasn't, she could actually hear the lute being played through the wall. She cocked her head and wandered over, pressing her ear against it with the blank expression. It was someone playing a lute, but it wasn't Kristoff. It sounded like one note being played over and over, with a thudding reminiscent of someone stomping the floor.

She crept out of her room and moved down the hallway to the door next along from hers, one of the guest bedrooms. Gingerly she pushed the door open and leaned in so that one eye was granting her vision of the room. She saw a formally dressed male who looked barely out of his teens, unkempt hair contrasting with the smart white jacket and high boots he wore. His hand moved rapidly, plucking the strings of the lute he was holding down, playing the same chord over and over again, she noticed he had a black glove stretching over his left hand holding the strings down.

What perplexed her even more was the way he was tapping out a rhythm with both his feet, completely independent of the sound coming from the lute. It wasn't depressing but it didn't sound happy. He took a deep breath and began to say words

_Thirteen_  
><em>Always played it unclean<em>

_Can't take the throne_  
><em>At least not on your own<em>  
><em>This time.<em>

_And I wonder_  
><em>Are you putting her under<em>

_Because I can't take my eyes_  
><em>Off your charm and your lies<em>  
><em>So sublime.<em>

_Forgive my doubt_

He wasn't singing, but saying them in a voice that sounded derisive, as if it were mocking the subject. He paused and flexed his left hand awkwardly before returning it in the same shape further down the neck and resuming his odd routine.

Anna attempted to piece together whatever he was singing about. She thought the patterns on his jacket looked familiar, as did the colour scheme of his entire outfit, including the bright pink fabric tied around his collar.

_Try not to haunt her_  
><em>Sugar coated Monster<em>

_She's just someone to kiss_  
><em>And then someone to miss<em>  
><em>When they die<em>

_She'll be saying hold me_  
><em>Marry and control me<em>

_Cause you're slick and you're wet_  
><em>And she just can't see yet<em>  
><em>That you lie.<em>

_How long till you're out_

Hans.

He was wearing Hans' colours

He was singing about Hans

He was singing about her.

Was he singing? Could it be called that?

She felt her cheeks redden with anger and burst through the door. The youth was so surprised he dropped the lute and fell backwards off the stool he'd been sat on. His head cracked against the wood floor.

Anna reared herself up to her full height and strode over. "For once in your life act like you're in charge, don't be clumsy and don't be awkward." she thought.

"Look...you. I don't know who you are or what you think you're doing here but stop singing about...that...now!"

He sat up, looking dazed and spaced out. Anna felt a little bad for causing him to keel over but kept up her steely resolve.

"Why were you singing about me?"

"Well" he said sarcastically, unable to focus his eyes on her "Unless you're a prince of the Southern Isles or a princess from here then it probably isn't and you're going for lyrical misinterpretation."

His eyes focused in. He looked up and saw Anna stood there, one hand on her hip, unflinching gaze drilling into him like nails.

"What's with the dress, you getting married or something?"

His eyes widened as he put 2 and 2 together. He stumbled over his own limbs as he attempted to get into a position somewhere between kneeling and bowing.

"Princess I'm sorry I didn't mean to cause any of-whoops" he started, before falling over and crunching down onto his instrument.

"Who are you?" Anna demanded. Her demeanour softened slightly when she saw how dazed he was from having fell over.

Almost half a minute passed before he managed to right himself again, before attempting to push his hair back into a respectable position. He gave a low bow, this time without losing his balance.

"Anders, my father is an ambassador from the Southern Isles."

Anna flinched at the mention of where he was from.

"Southern Isles? W-what-what are you doing her if you're from there, you can't be...WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" She rambled incoherently, before snapping and yelling at him.

"I do what I'm told" he replied unflinchingly.

He crouched over the lute, the head had snapped off when he'd fell on it.

"Great now I've got no lute." He muttered some other words almost silently, before standing up again. Anna tilted her head involuntarily as she looked at him. He barely came over her head. It looked like he'd torn the glove he was wearing over his left hand, but it just looked black underneath the tear. She must have imagined it. "Forgive me princess Anna, my name is Anders Magnusson, my father has been ordered here to persuade the queen to re-open trade with us. I'm not overly happy about it all to be frank. And I'd like to make a formal apology for interrupting you and if my song caused any offence. Prince Hans' actions are just, well they're a bit of a hot topic back home".

Anna drifted into her own thoughts. His words seemed sincere enough, there was just something off about him, like he didn't want to say anything. He didn't want to be here. He wanted to be worlds away, not in this castle. Not in this bedroom.

"Wait..why are you in one of the empty bedrooms?"

"Well, the ballroom is a bit occupied. I tried sitting in this room full of paintings but there's a big reindeer playing with some big rocks in there or something."

"What?" Anna exclaimed as her eyes widened. "Big rocks?"

"Yeah weird things, all perfectly round and covered with moss. What's with keeping those in a gallery?"

Anna couldn't process this. She realised she knew basically no one attending her own wedding and that anyone could be there as shown by this Southern Islander, but the thought that the trolls had turned up. She didn't dislike them, on the contrary she loved them, but they could cause so much trouble, and today that was terrifying.

She looked back at Anders. Her head was trying to go through two chains of thought at once and she needed to get through one before the other.

"Why don't you want to be here?" She asked him.

One of his eyes narrowed and he tilted his head to one side.

"Who says I don't want to be here?"

"No one, but it's obvious you don't. Why?"

He slumped onto the floor and picked at the strings of his broken instrument, the headstock dangled from the neck in a way that reminded Anna of where she'd met Olaf, with it's dangling loose crystals.

"Anyone from the Southern Isles isn't going to be popular here. I'm not exactly big there even though I'm sort of in the royal family so I'm expected to do big things but lately all I've been doing is whatever my dad get told to-"

"Wait, wait, wait" Anna interrupted, "You're in the royal family?"

"Sort of. My older sister married prince number twelve. My dad's basically been pushing me to do big things so both of us can get some respect or other about the place but I just don't care. I don't want to be stuck there forever, I want to see... everywhere."

He glanced out of the window. He saw his father being pulled through the gates by one guard holding onto his arm, with another pushing him forwards.

"Guess that concludes today's negotiation."

He knocked his left arm against the window sill and screamed out in anguish, gripping his arm. Anna recoiled as he screamed and began to breathe quickly and heavily. She ran over and attempted to look at his arm.

"No, don't...don't look."

Anna fixed him with a defiant gaze and held his shoulder.

"As Princess of Arendelle I order you to take off your glove"

Anders looked at her. Her frowned and opened his mouth as if to say no, but closed it again. He began to peel off the elbow length glove. Anna gasped and backed away when she saw the skin from his wrist to his elbow was seared almost black, with anywhere that wasn't a deep red colour.

"What on earth happened to your arm?" She whispered, barely able to get the words out.

"Prince Hans was being held in this tower, at the top of it. His older brother, the one my sister was married to, went to visit, and they made me go with him because my sister went as well. The pair of them went in, and a fire broke out from nowhere. It was so hot, like walking on the surface of the sun. I ran in when I heard my sister scream. I pulled her and the prince out of the tower, but I fell and my shirt caught fire. Most of my left side was burnt off. And... nobody found if there was anything left of Prince Hans. We never heard him... there was just... silence, until the tower collapsed."

Anna looked at him. Tears were forming in his eyes. The event had clearly been traumatic.

The pair of them sat in silence until they heard a knock at a door nearby. Anna leaned out of the door and saw two guards waiting patiently outside her room.

"Princess Anna" one of them turned and said "We're looking for a boy named Anders from the Southern Isles, we've been instructed to hold him on his ship for the remainder of the day"

Anna raised an eyebrow as she heard a window clatter

"Yes he's in this room here I was-" she said walking, but came to a room with nothing but a broken lute and a black glove. The window was open with the frame clattering in the breeze. She leaned over the window sill and saw hand and footprints leading in a curve around the roof from the window and up over the top of the roof.

"... gone" she said nonchalantly.

The three of them looked at the dislodged snow running beside the window sill and around, then down.

There the queen strode quietly out into the courtyard, and the slow flutter of snowflakes going down to the ground stopped as if frozen in mid air. She turned to the fountains, both turned off die to the weather, and caused a huge inverted icicle to spring from each of them, topping them with an intricate snowflakes design stretching over the height of the castle walls.

"We must tell the queen, excuse us" said one of the two guards, and with a quick bow the two of them ran out of the room.

Anna rested her chin on her palms and gazed as Elsa continued to work her way around the courtyard, leaving different snowflakes designs on them. She was such an artist with her ice, and she'd only gotten more skilled as the months had passed.

Art. The gallery. Sven. Trolls.

Anna shot up from her position at the window and bolted off out of the room to find out what the hell trolls were doing here.

**Seriously don't expect any updates until monday, I am mashed off my face and I'll be dealing with this hangover all weekend**

**Ciao**


	7. Chapter 7

Elsa was determined to do the greatest work she'd ever done. After spending days practising her ice sculptures she practically exuded confidence, she made the huge stalagmites bursting from the fountains with practically no effort, and closed her eyes as she prepared to make her signature snowflake larger than she'd ever done them before, sprouting in mid-air above the huge ice spikes as if from nothing, she closed her eyes to stop seeing them and feel them grow.

That's right, she told herself, crystallise and take shape, God, Anna's going to love these.

She opened her eyes to see her favourite snowflake design, the one that had gilded the floor of the upper room of her ice palace, suspended in the air above her twice. Slowly she brought her hands down and they settled into place balanced perfectly on top of the ice spikes.

Perfect.

She walked over to the church where tables arranged with winter flowers and small sculptures carved from wood made by the local craftsmen, but her target was an empty table about 4 feet in diameter right next to the chapel doors.

The first blast of cold air covered the table in snow, dusting the wall behind it.

The second created a tiny mound , barely the distance from the ground to Elsa's shin, but from there up it began to take shape, small thin strands with broader versions of themselves opposite them, forming torsos as ice danced in the air, tapering in the middle on the thinner side while the other broadened.

Elsa closed her eyes as she began to form their heads and arms stretched out, the broader one's arms wrapping the thinner one's waist, the thin one with it's arms around the other's neck. Now for the faces.

She pictured Kristoff's face with his wide nose and the way his mouth turned up ever so slightly as he smiled, working on his hair sweeping to one side across his forehead. Childs play compared to Anna. She had to get Anna just right.

She'd seen Anna's face sculpted in ice once before, as her last breath had left her. But today Anna's face of ice would smile. She started from the braids up, and began to carve the detail of her hair as she heard her name

"Queen Elsa, you majesty, we-"

"Not now" she said with her eyes still shut tight. If she'd opened her eyes she'd have seen a perfect replica of Anna's face forming, looking up into the sculpture of Kristoff opposite.

"But we- the boy from the Southern Isles has disappeared."

Elsa snapped out of her trance at once.

"What?" she rounded on them quickly. There was an awful shattering sound and she span again back to her original position.

Shards of ice had splintered away from Anna's head, slicing off one of the arms and shattering Kristoff stood in front of him. Where just a second ago there had been what Elsa considered her magnum opus now lay a twisted spiky form. Elsa's fists clenched involuntarily and the whole thing shattered.

She placed her hands over her temples and closed her eyes. There was a small breeze to break the silence before a steady drip, drip, drip...

Elsa opened her eyes again and looked up at one of her snowflakes. It was melting. She turned to the two guards in their winter cloaks, both a little red faced and beginning to sweat.

"Does it seem... warm to you for winter?" she asked the two.

They both nodded and tugged at their collars. Elsa focused a small portion of her power above the two snowflakes creating clouds, much larger than Olaf's, in order to maintain the cool temperature needed to prevent them from melting. She looked up at the castle roof and saw water dripping off every precipice, but focused on an area dragging away from a window where the snow had clearly been disturbed.

"Guard the gates, I don't know what he's doing or why he's doing it, but that boy from the Southern Isles was not invited to Anna's wedding and is to be held on his ship till tomorrow, I'm going to find him.

She glanced up at the sky and had to shield her eyes for a second. The sun, hidden behind cloud cover just moments before, was shining fiercely, causing a quiet symphony of dripping to increase in volume as more and more snow melted.

"Do you want some of us to accompany you majesty?" asked one of the guards politely.

Elsa looked up at the sky again as a cloud spiralled out from the pinnacle of Arendelle castle. It spread out to the courtyard, then the square beyond the bridge and out into the fjord as snowflakes began to fall. One landed directly on Elsa's cheek, cool and refreshing.

"I can look after myself" Elsa said, before sweeping her cape up and striding towards the castle doors.

* * *

><p><strong>So yeah, sorry if this is a bit short, I've just been basically lacking inspiration for this and preoccupied with the idea I had for another fanfic, which I've uploaded, not like it's hard to find off my account.<strong>

**I'll try and write a bigger chapter for this soon when I've not got big chunks of coursework towards my degree to finish and I'm not spending all my free time watching Twitch plays Pokémon**

**ciao**


	8. Chapter 8

Anna opened the portrait gallery doors so see Olaf balanced on top of four trolls while the fifth one riding on Sven's back as he trotted in a circle around them. She glanced back before slamming the doors. The noise caused all seven pairs of eyes to fix on her. Five pairs blinked simultaneously. Then again.

"It's Anna!" cheered one of the little ones. They all burst forth switching quickly into round boulders rolling towards her before bunching up. Olaf began to fall and landed on Sven's head as he bounded over following the trolls.

"Let me look at you dear, oh so pretty!" exclaimed Bulda the troll as she rolled up and bounced on to Anna's shoulder. Anna's knees buckled under her weight and she fell sideways, only to be caught by the three troll children.

Cliff cleared his throat noisily as Anna sat up, dazed for a second. Her eyes focused in on him.

"W-what are you all doing here? You can't be here, I mean it's wonderful the you are here but you shouldn't be we told you we were coming to the valley tomorrow a-"

Cliff placed his chunky hand over her mouth.

"Calm down dear, you don't want to asphyxiate on your wedding day."

Anna lifted the hand away and took a deep breath.

"Why are you here?" she repeated firmly as the three trolls behind her continued to roll around.

"I'm here because I live here."

Anna raised an eyebrow and looked up to see Olaf grinning.

"Not you Olaf I know why you're here, them" Anna said loudly, pointing at Cliff and prodding his nose hard. She recoiled and flexed her finger in pain.

"Well maybe they live here too? That'd be so great wouldn't it?" Olaf responded before chuckling to himself. The three troll children cheered before being silenced with a 'shush' from Bulda. Anna returned her eyes to Cliff.

"Grand Pabbie is coming" he said gruffly. "And the wedding can't go on. Not today."

Anna was taken aback. She looked at him. Olaf sighed mournfully as Sven did a double take.

"But we've gotta have the wedding today, it's the wedding day" Olaf exclaimed.

Sven glanced up at the snowman on his head with one eyebrow raised. If he was human Anna thought he probably would have told the snowman just how stupid he sounded. Anna merely gave him a reassuring smile and tickled his chin.

"Don't worry Olaf" she said looking up above Sven's head as he shook it in contentment, "the wedding _will_ happen today" she said, placing particular emphasis on the word will, before turning round to glare at Cliff. The young troll next to him wilted under the glare but stood firm.

"Whatever Grand Pabbie has to tell you, he said it'll stop the wedding. I'm trying to save you the bother. Ungrateful..." He began, then trailed off into a ramble that was barely audible.

* * *

><p>And at that moment, a very old troll walked slowly but purposefully through the gates of Arendelle castle. The two guards stood by the gate practically shrieked for a second before righting themselves as he looked up at them.<p>

"Good day" he began in his gravelly voice, "would you be kind enough to direct me to Princess Anna and young Kristoff."

One guard stared without blinking while the other simply pointed to the castle without thinking.

"Thank you" went the troll, plodding onwards. The first guard shook his head slightly as if to snap himself out of a trance.

"Did that just happen?"

* * *

><p>Elsa wandered up the stairs through one of the towers and stepped out on to the balcony. The air was crisp and she caught a snowflake as it fell, opening her palm and watching as it stayed perfectly formed, not melting. She'd always felt cold to the touch.<p>

"You know it's considered extremely rude to sit when the queen stands" she called across to the roof, where a figure sat balling snow between his fingers. He glanced up.

"Isn't it also rude to try and arrest your guests your majesty" he called back.

Elsa felt a flash of fury. She stepped up onto the railed and stretched her palm out in front of her. The person on the roof nearly lost his balance as a walkway spread out from the railing to the slope of the roof almost instantaneously, taking root at his feet. Elsa strode towards him, calm and collected, maintaining her composure.

"Ander Magnusson of the Southern Isles, you weren't invited here under any pretext and are to return to your ship for the remainder of the day."

Anders felt something cool creep up his shins and noticed he was being frozen in place. He looked up to see Elsa's eyes narrow and lips grow thin. His face flashed with fear..

"And if you do ANYTHING to ruin my sister's wedding, you will regret that decision for the rest of your life." she said icily, before shattering the ice around his ankle. He looked up at her with one eyebrow raised and the other eye narrowed.

"Why would I do anything to ruin the princesses wedding? I don't even want to be here. What sort of person who wants to be here would sit up on the roof" he said, still rolling snow between the fingers of his left hand.

Elsa glanced at the left hand. Then stared at it. She recoiled in horror, hands flying over her mouth. Anders looked at it with shame and placed it behind his back.

"How did-" Elsa began, but stopped and screwed up her eyes. She placed a hand against her forehead. The sun was shining brightly through the cloud directly above the pinnacle of Arendelle castle. Something was wrong.

Anders turned on the spot to stare at the sky. It looked magnificent, but whe he turned his head to look at the queen, it wasn't wonder he saw on her face. She too now had an expression of fear.

She shut her eyes tight and forced every thought she had to focus on the cloud. The gap sealed and a heavy flurry of snow dropped out of the sky, glancing off Elsa and nearly burying Anders.

He flinched as the snow hit the back of his head and stumbled backwards. Elsa opened her eyes to the sound of a squeal, seeing Anders' polished boot skid on the ice he was now stood on. She motioned to scream but no sound came out. Anders' feet both left the surface and he keeled over backwards.

Elsa lunged to grab him but couldn't get a grip on his trousers or boots and could only watch as he landed head first on the roof and rolled down to the ground, landing with a muffled thump.

"What have I done" she said out loud.

* * *

><p><strong>So yeah I'm currently sat here with Wolfmother playing really loudly and wearing my brand new 'Arendelle's Frosty Flakes' t-shirt and hope everyone's feeling as happy as me right now.<strong>

**Basically I just hope whoever's reading the story is enjoying it and that you're all having a hunky dory day, and I'm sorry if the chapter lengths vary a lot and you think they're too long/too short.**

**Also please don't tell anyone I just said hunky dory without saying it ironically...**


	9. Chapter 9

"He'll be alright your majesty"

Elsa was pacing back and forth in her room, and the kindly voice of Kai made little impact on her.

"Your majesty?" came the words a little louder.

Elsa glanced out of the window, holding on to her braid tightly. She couldn't stop thinking about what she'd done, he wouldn't have fallen off the roof if she only hadn't been trying to force him down, and for what? He was hardly doing anything except being forced into a big showy ceremony he wanted no part of, and she knew what that was like. She winced as her fingers dug in tighter and the hair pulled at her scalp.

"Your majesty!" Kai said, voice raised. Elsa snapped out of her trance state and span her head around.

"Yes?" she said quietly, eyeing Anders lying unconscious the sofa facing a fireplace.

"He'll be alright, might hurt a bit when he comes to but I don't think there's any permanent damage."

Elsa looked him over, lying on his back. Apart from a large lump on his forehead there was nothing to suggest anything had happened to Anders, he was merely lying there, breathing slowly, with a smile on his face, eyes closed, as if having some pleasant dream. A bell was heard ringing faintly in the distance.

"Excuse me majesty" Kai said with a glance at her, and she waved a hand at him, not taking her eyes off the man lying asleep. Kai strode off quickly and closed the door, leaving the room deadly silent but for the occasional whistle of wind coming in through the window frame.

Elsa walked over to the fireplace, unlit, like it always was. She never needed her room to be warm, though whoever brought her breakfast in the mornings would almost always comment on the place being chilly. She turned around and placed her hand on Anders' forehead. Chilly, she thought. Maybe he'd have liked the fire on.

She folded her arms across her chest and hunched her shoulders slightly. Someone had to tell the ambassador she'd just thrown out of her castle that his son was lying unconscious in the queen's room, but after the wedding. She turned to see him shivering. She placed a hand on his forehead again, only for him to sit bolt upright. Elsa flung her hand back in surprise and stepped backwards, the mantelpiece made painful contact with her back.

* * *

><p>The door of the portrait gallery opened and Anna turned around with a start.<p>

"Kristoff" she cried in surprise.

Kristoff held one of the doors open and did a double-take. Anna had one of the troll children balanced on her shoulder, struggling under his weight, with the other two curled up as boulders underneath her feet. Both Sven and Olaf fell silent at the sight of Kristoff's blank expression.

"Uhhhhhhh... " Anna began, but was cut off by the shout of the troll on her shoulder, who rolled off to greet Kristoff. She toppled backwards as the two beneath her feet did the same and she landed in a heap on the sofa beneath a large portrait.

"Anna!" gasped Olaf as he ran over to help her up as she adjusted a lock of hair that had come free and dangled over her face. Anna took the snowman's stick hand as he pulled her into a standing position. She turned her head back and grinned mischievously.

"Another time Joan".

Kristoff meanwhile, unprepared for three trolls jumping on him, lost his balance and collapsed to the floor.

"Enough, enough ENOUGH!" he said loudly, causing the three young ones to shrink to boulders again.

"Kristoff, I'm so glad you're here!" cried Bulda, waddling over to give him a hug.

"Well I am not glad you're here, you're not supposed to be here, you're supposed to be... not here!" Kristoff spluttered, red in the face. Bulda didn't flinch as Cliff walked up beside her.

"Well now you are here, we have to leave. All of us. Now". He said.

Anna blinked twice.

"Leave? But it's my wedding in... " she glanced at a small clock situated on the other side of the room. "An hour... ohhh my Kristoff you can't be here, we can't see each other" she panicked, waving her hands in front of her body. Kristoff climbed to his feet after rolling one of the children away.

"Anna look I'm sure it'll all be-"

"No! No!" Anna interrupted, before bounding towards him and flapping her hands, "Out, out, out, come on Kristoff shoo!" she said, pushing him out of the room.

"Anna I-WHOA" Kristoff yelled, tripping over something knee height as he was shepherded out of the room. He landed in a heap on the floor.

"Well that's a fine greeting" came the cracked voice of Pabbie from beneath Kristoff.

* * *

><p>"Your majesty I-" Anders began, before his teeth involuntarily chattered. "Sorry I'm just a bit cold I just..."<p>

"No, no it's alright I-" Elsa interrupted, rubbing the small of her back, before noticing the window had blown open and a strong gust of wind had blown in a flurry of snow that had been building up against the pane. She paced quickly across the room and closed the window, dissipating the snow around her feet. "Better?" she asked.

"Better" he confirmed. He stood shakily to his full height and Elsa noticed his eyes struggled to focus on her for a second. "Look, your majesty, I'm sorry for any trouble I caused I just wanted to-"

"No, look young man it w-"

"Young man, I'm older than you! Aren't you twenty one?"

"Very nearly twenty two yes" Elsa corrected him. "Just". A slight smile tugged at the corners of her mouth before her neutral expression returned, just long enough to notice.

"What is it?" he asked, tilting his head slightly to one side.

"Nothing it's just... I haven't really ever thought about my birthday. And this winter is Anna's big thing so... yeah".

Elsa looked away from him and smiled. She'd spent almost every birthday for thirteen years alone, and for the first time in what felt like forever, she could spend it with Anna, but she didn't even care. It was going to be Anna's day for once, not the same day obviously, but Anna was going to get her special day.

Or at least she had been before everything had started going wrong.

"Look I'm sorry for knocking you off the roof and... every way I've treated you, it's just-"

"Just that I'm from the Southern Isles and therefore you've got every reason not to trust me?" Anders finished for her. Her eyes widened. She was treating him entirely different after causing him to fall, but he had a point.

"It's not that I don't-"

"Sure it is. You don't trust my father either, so I guess we've got something in common there. He wouldn't tell me why we were coming today and I trust him about as far as I can throw him, which isn't far... your majesty" Anders rambled, running his hand through his hair.

His hand.

"What happened to your hand" Elsa said bluntly, clasping her hands together in front of her waist.

"My hand?" Anders replied.

He pulled the hand away and looked at it before opening his mouth to speak, but then held it up to shield his face as a blinding ray of sunshine burst through the window. Elsa turned her head towards the window and had to scrunch up her eyes.

* * *

><p>"Well" Grand Pabbie said quietly, "Now we're all here, so make ready to leave, we must go at once."<p>

"No one!" said Kristoff angrily as he sat upright, "No one is going anywhere!... except you six, you all need to go!" he gestured towards all the trolls.

"Kristoff dear, what's got into you today?" Bulda asked.

"Look you know fine well what it is, it's my wedding day and everything is going... going... weird!" Kristoff ranted. Anna crouched down and rested a calming hand on his shoulder, seeing Kristoff get upset had softened her demeanour.

"Grand Pabbie," she began quietly, "why do we need to leave? This is... well it's kinda the most important day of my life". Anna's voice trailed off into a nervous laugh.

"Strange magic is at work, and if you do not leave, it may be too l-" Pabbie began, but halted before he could finish his sentence as he shielded his eyes from the glare coming through the window.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay so it's like 2am and I'm shattered but judging by most of the people who read this it's only 9pm at the latest where you are...probably, so have some light evening reading.<strong>

**Sorry I haven't updated this in over a week but University has been kinda sucky lately and I'm just lazy in general but I was hyped today because Dream Theater were just announced for Sonisphere Festival's second stage on the 6th of July, so I felt happy enough to write something. Yay**

**And sorry if the Anna chunks are short, I find it hard to keep her in character and I find it a lot more fun to write about Elsa.**

**Hope everyone's doing fine, Peace out**


	10. Chapter 10

"It's too late" came the voice of Grand Pabbie.

Anna couldn't see a thing. She stumbled backwards with her eyes clenched tightly shut and tripped over Kristoff's outstretched leg. The light was incredible, every time she tried to open her eyes it got brighter. She heard Kristoff calling and felt blindly for him. After what felt like the longest five seconds of her life she found his outstretched hand and he pulled her towards him and held her tight.

"I've got you" he said quietly. There was no noise but Anna could hear the sound of her own blood pumping. Her eyes were beginning to hurt from keeping them squeezed shut so hard.

"Come, come" she heard a voice say, and felt herself being lifted off the ground. She gripped onto Kristoff so hard she swore she was going to rip his suit. She heard the doors slam shut as Kristoff's hand stroked her hair.

"It's okay Anna, you can open them now" Kristoff said. Anna opened her eyes and rubbed them. The portrait gallery was almost pitch black, and deep shroud hovered near the roof where all the smal windows were. Grand Pabbie paced in a small circle, constantly changing which one he was looking at, waving his hand slightly with each one as they seemed to fade. A thing ray of light crept between the doors and hit the back wall.

"What was that?" Anna asked. Grand Pabbie barely responded. Sven galloped over to check if she was okay. She stroked his muzzle kindly as Kristoff stepped up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"What the heck was that?" came Olaf's voice. Anna peered into the dark to see his midriff lying on one of the sofas. "And can someone find my chest?". Another glance showed his legs wandering around with his head balanced at a crazy angle. She laughed and walked over to put him back together.

"Yes Pabbie, what was that?" Kristoff turned to say, raising his voice.

"That," Pabbie said calmly, pausing his odd slow pacing, "was extremely powerful magic. Powerful enough that I was able to feel it's effects two days ago." The light coming through the door stopped, and the shrouds covering the ceiling windows faded, allowing bright light to shine through. "Come, see" he said quietly, waddling towards the doors. Anna and Kristoff wandered to see bright sunlight shining in the windows, like it was summer.

The pair of them stopped dead at the sight. All the snow and ice surrounding Arendelle Castle had melted. All the snow and ice everywhere had melted. No clouds, no wind, it was like high summer.

"Summer's come back!" the pair of them heard an excited voice say, and turned to see Olaf bolt down the hallways jumping and spinning and singing about how great summer was.

"Olaf wait!" called Anna, but he was gone.

"Now you five stay here, and stay out of any danger," Grand Pabbie said quietly to the trolls, closing the doors behind him, before climbing slowly up on to Sven's back. "This is why I wanted you to leave" he said, pointing one chunky finger out of the window.

Anna and Kristoff looked at each other, than out the window again. A ship was floating past all of the ones anchored outside the sea walls, ad there appeared to be no one on board. There was no flag flying, and only one sail lowered. It glided through the water, missing every ship on the way in, until it bumped the one flying the flag of the Southern Isles.

And then without warning the mainsail of the Southern Isles' ship burst into flames.

* * *

><p>Elsa held her hands over her face as light blasted in the windows. She stumbled backwards and hid the mantelpiece again, causing her legs to give way as she crumpled to the floor. She felt the glare subside slightly and opened one eye to see Anders pulling a curtain shut with one hand while shielding his eyes with the other and running to the other window to do the same.<p>

She stood and winced with the pain her back was in as her eyes adjusted to the gloom. Anders just sat down by the second curtain and breathed slowly. Elsa crossed her arms and gripped her shoulders tightly as she sat down slowly on the sofa. What was going on? How could this have possibly gone so wrong?

Almost a whole minute passed with the room in total silence. Elsa felt herself getting more and more nervous. Something was very wrong. Somehow it was sunny and whatever she was doing to keep the weather cold wouldn't work. She couldn't make sculptures right, she couldn't even stay calm.

"You majesty" came Anders' voice as a quiet crackling sound came from behind her, she span round to see frost and small shards of ice forming on the wall and in the fireplace.

Conceal, don't feel, just for a second

The ice stopped spreading. Then started dripping slightly. Elsa glanced to the side to see Anders tugging at his collar as a bead of sweat rolled down his head. It was warm. Very warm. The room plunged into pitch darkness for a second, before the curtain was pulled again. The glare poured through the window. Elsa didn't move.

He shook her roughly by the shoulder as he paced over. Elsa glanced up and saw his pupils shrink as his eyes registered to the light.

"Have you ever wanted to run away?" she said quietly, glancing to the floor.

He did a double take.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because I only want one thing right now more than to just run away, and that's for Anna to be happy."

Anders tilted his head and looked at her curiously.

"You want to run?"

"Only when things go wrong. It's all I grew up doing. I just want to hide sometimes."

"I don't get that. I don't want to hide. I just want to be me, find my own place or something."

Elsa snapped her head up at the last words. Her eyes narrowed at the thought of the words 'find my own place'. Her smile thinned to an angry pout and she pushed him away. He stumbled and slumped onto the sofa.  
>"You sound like him" she hissed as a large flash and screams from far away came through the window.<p>

Elsa ran over and gasped at the sight of nearly all the ships docked in the harbour and on the fjord in flames, the crews desperately diving into the water.

"Dad..." she heard Anders say behind her, but when she turned he'd already flung the door open and ran off.

"Hey you... stop!" she shouted after him, raising a hand as a jet of ice flew from it and soared about five feet forward, before it melted in mid air and splashed to the ground. Elsa ran after him and rounded a corner, to see Olaf lying on the ground dazed and in three pieces. His flurry remained up, something Elsa was glad about.

"Hey Elsa!" he said happily as she put him back together, "Summer's back isn't that great!"

Elsa looked at him. If her clouds that covered the whole or Arendelle could be undone by whatever was doing this, what was one small snow cloud hovering about a tiny snowman?

"Olaf, no it's not, listen, you have to find somewhere cold and stay inside, this summer could kill you."

Olaf's smile dropped.

"But... but my flurry keeps me cold, so I can enjoy summer."

Elsa looked at him, and she could feel the news tearing him apart.

"It might not. Not from whatever summer this is." she said. And with that, she stood up and ran away, pausing before she turned a corner. "I'm sorry" she said back to the sad little snowman.

* * *

><p>Anna rounded a corner, running. She wasn't listening to Grand Pabbie calling her back, nor Kristoff. She ran round a corner and Pabbie's voice grew fainter as Sven failed to slow down and skidded in a straight line.<p>

"Anna come back, please, it's not safe!" Kristoff yelled after her as he bounded round the corner.

_God damn whatever goes on in her head that makes her do about twelve things before thinking._

Anna kept running, and saw Elsa in front of her.

"Elsa!" she called. Elsa stopped dead and span around.

"Go back Anna, go back inside, please!" she called, but Anna ran straight past her. Elsa took off again, fighting a stitch in her right side. The two ran out of the main doors almost side by side. Anna looking straight ahead while Elsa, who now parallel to Anna, turned her head to her sister.

"Go back Anna, now! That's a royal order! Just-" she gasped for a second as they neared the castle gates. "-just stay safe!"

"Not if there's people that need help Elsa!" Anna shouted back, breaking away. Elsa slowed for a second as they burst out of the gates. But she stopped dead when she saw the one in tact ship docking as twenty men in red cloaks burst from the cabins and vaulted over the sides onto Arendelle's shores.

Several of Arendelle's guard ran past the two sisters shouting pleas for the two of them to stay back as hundreds of people surged towards the bridge to the castle, attempting to flee the onslaught. Anna cried out in shock as a crossbow bolt sailed through the air and pierced the chest of a guard two feet in front of her, sending him crumpling to the ground.

Three almost sailed right into her as she shut her eyes, before hearing them pierce a thick veil of ice in front of her. She opened her eyes to see Elsa glare and surge forwards. More bolts, shot down in mid air by strands of snow, dropped harmlessly to the ground.

"There she is!" came a shout from the market square as people parted to let the queen stride forwards. Three red cloaked men with an Arendelle guard dead at their feet shouted something else, but it could barely be heard above the screaming of Arendelle's citizens.

Two motioned to crossbows on their backs while the third drew his sword and began to run. He shrieked as a thick blast of ice and snow hit him directly in the middle of his face. His two companions caught by a strong gust of hail which swept them off their feet into the air. Another blasted them into the water, which froze to ice above them, spreading out.

Anna felt large arms being wrapped around her and kicked violently, only to turn her head and see Kristoff clutching his shin.

"Anna, you can't stay here, please go inside."

Anna opened her mouth as if to say no, before hearing Elsa scream. She held her hand over her mouth as she saw Elsa stood in the middle of the square pulling a crossbow bolt out of her shoulder, blood staining her pale blue dress red.

"Protect the queen!" came shouts of the guards, the number of red cloaks rapidly dwindling as more clad in Arendelle's dark green arrived on the scene. Swords clashed and crossbow bolts sailed everywhere, none finding their targets.

Elsa's eyes bored in the direction the bolt had come from, to see a tall man striding forwards, drawing a sword. She recoiled a step when he stepped out of a shadow, his sword glinting in the sunlight.

"Hello again, your majesty" came the taunting voice of Hans.

* * *

><p><strong>So I made it to 10 chapters, which is further than I usually get before serious writers block kicks in. Sorry if this chapter is sub-par, it took me about 4 hours to write cause I woke up with a screaming hangover but finally managed to break the aforementioned writer's block.<strong>

**Cheers to everyone who reviews, you people make me happy ;)**


	11. Chapter 11

Elsa's left hand was fixed on her right shoulder, now slicked deep crimson with blood. Her eyes flashed with rage as Hans continued to walk forwards, slowly, with an evil smirk on his face, eyelids low, one eyebrow raised.

He looked older. His chin was covered with a scraggly beard, and the sideburns he'd kept so immaculately trimmed were now over four inches long, dangling from the sides of his face. His cheeks looked hollow and his hair was pushed back as it ran down past his shoulders.

"Not" Elsa said loudly as she used her free hand to create an icicle spiking up directly in front of him. "one", another appeared to his right, "more", one on the left. "step!" A surge of ice behind him took his feet out. It shot up creating a wall over 10 feet high behind him, and he slumped against it.

Anna broke free of Kristoff's grip and ran to Elsa. Shouts could be heard but barely anyone was left in the square. A few guards trading punches with a red cloak, a family running to the castle. She ran to Elsa and tentatively attempted to look at her shoulder, but was pushed away roughly by Elsa, who pulled her hand down as a few more drips of blood hit the stone below.

Hans righted himself and brushed down his uniform. Despite the state of his hair, his uniform was immaculate. The jacket and trousers he wore, like his boots, were black as night, so much so that every speck of dust stood out like a star on them. He retained his white gloves, hiding his hands up to the wrists, where the cuffs of his jacket were embroidered with gold.

He slid his sword, thin at the hilt spreading out wider and curved before narrowing to a vicious barbed point, back into the scabbard at his side and pulled off one glove, using it to wipe his brow. His green eyes fixed on Anna and she backed behind Elsa slightly.

"Well if it isn't my blushing bride." he said, soft and sibilantly. "Pleased to see I've come back for the wedding?"

Elsa's eyes flashed with anger. A shard of ice burst from the ground in front of him and pinned the tails of his jacket to the wall behind him. Anna looked around. Barely any sound could be heard besides the crackling sound coming from the charred remains of several ships. Smoke and ash were everywhere. She looked down to see her dress was now almost entirely the colour of charcoal.

"You do not speak to my sister" Elsa hissed, as another shard burst up underneath Hans' armpit, wedging him awkwardly into place. "Ever"

"Would you rather I spoke with you, your majesty?" Hans said cordially, before spitting on the ground as if the words left a bad taste in his mouth.

"I would rather you be dead." Elsa replied as she raised her bloody hand. "an you'd better pray to the heavens that I'm not the monster you should fear."

Hans laughed and an evil smile spread on his features as he pulled the now melting icicle pinning his coat back away and tossed it to one side. With a kick he shattered the ice in front of him.

"You're not a monster" he said, sliding the glove he was still holding into his breast pocket. "I however, am. And you'd do very well to fear me" He paced around the ice for a moment. Elsa didn't take her eyes off him. "Do you know what it's like, Elsa, to have twelve brothers, to have fourteen family members who all supposedly love you, to have all those in-laws and friends at court, and to have them all cast you aside and throw you in a cell to rot?"

"You tried to kill us you wackjob!" Anna shouted. Elsa span her head around sharply and glared at Anna. Anna had never seen so much anger in her eyes. A long thing blade of ice began forming between the fingers and thumb of her right hand.

"Well yes, there was that" Hans smiled, "but you see my dearly beloved, I still had one friend. The court ambassador." Elsa exhaled through her nose as the corners of her lips moved downwards slightly. The ambassador.

"And" Hans continued to say in his taunting voice as he walked behind the ice wall, "he found something out during his travels. You're not the only one in the world who can control things far beyond our knowledge of power." he rounded again. "For example, did you know that the princess of Corona has tears with the ability to give life?"

Kristoff, who had walked up behind the pair of them, smirked. He pulled a small hand axe from a pile of logs nearby and twirled it in his left hand.

"Ah yes, the mountain man. Well of course such things would be beyond you," Hans smirked.

"I'm warning you Hans, shut that mouth of yours before I shut it for you." Kristoff snarled, his right hand curling into a fist.

"Well yes of course you don't care about the healing powers, well unless you're concerned about your queen's shoulder" Hans laughed, "But anyway, the thing is, most of these people aren't born into a royal family. And well, if the strongest people should rule, it seems only fair that they be kings and queens?"

Elsa's eyes narrowed as she threw the thin blade she'd made. It landed between Hans' feet as several icicles burst from the ground surrounding him and closed at the top. Sealing him in. She closed her eyes and focused all her energy as a swirling cloud formed above the spike at the top, ensuring they wouldn't melt.

Hans laughed again, and pulled out his sword. He thrust it skyward and it burst into flames. Not normal flames. Unnatural black flames flecked with red. Elsa stepped back as he sliced his way out of the icicles and brushed snow off his jacket. It was landing in his hair and sideburns, catching on the unkempt tangles.

"But the real interesting thing is when you find one of these people," he said, "and you find out what exactly it is they can do."

Elsa turned her head slowly to Kristoff.

"Get. Anna. Back. Inside" she whispered, emphasising each word.

"No!" Anna said quietly, but could do nothing as Kristoff bundled her up with his huge arms. She hit him in the chest and on the shoulder. "Don't you dare Kristoff, don't you dare! I'm not leaving her out here by herself!" Kristoff winced in pain as she his him square in the jaw, but kept going until Elsa could barely register what she was shouting.

"So then, Elsa, sent Anna back to the castle have we? Good, good. The ambassador should be in there now. He'll ensure I-"

"The ambassador" Elsa interrupted loudly, stretching her thin arm towards the burning ships and pointing with one slender finger, "was on his ship".

Hans looked blankly at Elsa for a second, before readjusting his features.

"Shame. He was helpful. Always complaining about his son, so easy to mold into helping me. You see, he's the one who found this person I'm trying so very hard to tell you about without being interrupted." Hans began, twirling the blade in mid air as he began to walk towards Elsa. "Because sh-Ungghhh"

A heavy piece of charred wood hit Hans in the side of the head. He lost his balance and stumbled to the right, his sword clattered to the ground and stopped flaming.

Elsa gasped as she saw Anders haul himself up onto the square from the lower walkway, holding another two heavy pieces of scorched wood, one still alight with a few embers.

"That was for my father!" he said loudly, throwing another one. Hans had turned to face his adversary and it hit him full force in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

"That was for my arm!" he said again, lifting the third piece over his head and throwing it with all the strength he could muster. It glanced off Hans' forehead as it shattered on the ground behind him as Anders continued to pace towards him.

"That was for Queen Elsa," he said, hooking the sword with his foot and flipping it into his hand. "And this, well this is just for you." He said, spinning the sword around into a reverse icepick grip and raising his hand above his head, pointing the end towards Hans' chest.

"Wait, Anders, don't!" Elsa cried, but before he brought down the sword there was a tremendous flash. Anders' head snapped backwards and he crumpled to the ground.


	12. Chapter 12

Elsa screamed and brought her hands over her mouth at the sight of Anders crumpling to the ground. She ignored the pain shooting through her right arm she ran over to him. She glanced quickly at Hans. His eyelids fluttered for a second before his head lolled to one side and he breathed heavily. She turned her head back to Anders.

She held his head and was shocked to see strands of his hair turning bright red. Not like what had happened to Anna, there were at least five. One ran down his fringe, another to the side. Most ran the whole length of his hair to the back. His eyelids stayed flat down over his eyes. Elsa felt his forehead, he felt like he was practically on fire.

"Terrible, terrible thing that's happened to him isn't it dear."

Elsa span her head towards the piers and glared fiercely, searching for whoever had spoken. It was an odd accent, she thought it sounded Eastern European, not Russian, somewhere west of that.

Elsa gently placed Anders' head on the ground and stood up straight, eyes baring down towards the smoking harbour. She opened her mouth to shout but found herself unable to make a sound.

Without warning another orange flash seared out of the smoke. Elsa instinctively threw her hands in front of her face as an ice wall shot up from the ground in front of her. She opened her eyes to see a small ice wall barely up to her knees surrounded by steaming water.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" the queen shouted, her voice sounding unusually powerful. She turned her head upon hearing creaking of timbers being pushed away to see three red cloaks trudging their way into the square, swords bloody.

"Certainly, your majesty" came the voice again, dragging out the S vocalisations she made. Elsa turned her head to see a slender woman edge her way up stone steps.

Unlike Elsa, wearing an elegant dress, she wore a uniform like Hans. It was almost skin tight on her, accentuating how thin her legs were. Her boots were pointed and high heeled, meaning every step she took caused a loud click against the stone. Unlike Hans, she wore no gloves, with slender pale hands coming past the golden cuffs, and instead of tails her black jacket thinned to one point roughly at the level of her knees.

But the thing that Elsa was drawn to was her face. She had huge eyes of odd colour, shades of red and orange. The colour of the pupils seemed to fluctuate between piercing orange and deep vermilion. And her hair. It reminded Elsa of the colour the sky turned right before the sun set. Bright red, as if there was nothing brighter in the world.

The woman stopped and drew a slender dagger from her belt. Pointed and straight, not curved and barbed like Hans' sword.

Elsa's eyes flashed to Anders' hair.

Then back to the woman.

She thought of the platinum streak Anna had in her hair from when she was younger.

And that was enough to boil over her fury.

She shot a huge shard of ice from her hand. For some reason all she could think of was this woman hurting Anna. If she was here with Hans then what else would she do? But to Elsa's surprise the huge shard, easily as tall as her, melted in mid air and splashed to the ground.

The woman brushed water off herself in irritation. Most of it splashed her legs or rushed past her boots but some drops landed on her face, she recoiled and took a step back from the water.

Of course, thought Elsa. What does fire hate?

So Elsa shot again. A shard of ice sailed through the air. And another. And another. Again and again. The woman kept shielding herself with blasts of flame and became surrounded by steam. Elsa held her blood streaked left hand out from her body at a forty five degree angle and heard the shouts of the three men that had been sneaking across the squre towards her as they found their legs encased up to their thighs in solid ice.

Elsa changed tack and sprayed a constant barrage of ice and snow into the steam. She heard the woman curse and swear from behind the clouds but kept pushing her back.

She turned her head to Anders and Hans, lying on the ground. Both feebly stirred and seemed to register the splashes of water raining on them. Elsa found herself having an internal debate. What if that boy was in league with Hans? But then what if he knew nothing. He did try to kill Hans, and took that blast in the head...

Oh... he clearly...what if he... to hell with it I've got to get him.

Elsa stepped back and thought of her palace. She thought of the golem she'd made, Marshmallow. And she thought bigger.

Four whirlwinds span out in front of her. The steam blew back slightly. Elsa glanced up at the sky, shielding her eyes from the burning sun. She screwed her eyes shut in concentration and forced storm clouds to roll in. The four whirlwinds grew in size till they were nearly twenty five feet tall each, before falling away.

These were not like Marshmallow, they were taller. Thinner. Sleeker. Their bodies looked like elegant armour. Their eyes hidden behind visors of ice. One had hands with long icicles protruding where fingernails would have been, each one almost five foot long. Another had arms which went down to his ankles, ending in huge double bladed axes. The third had huge ice boulders bigger than Sven. The fourth merely had two large flat hands.

And as if on some unseen order, they moved. Three of them lunged at the woman. The huge ice boulders crunched to the floor as she dived away, narrowly avoiding the swipe of a huge axe and spiked fingers slamming the ground.

The fourth strode slowly over to the tiny looking figures lying on the ground and scooped up Anders' motionless form in it's left hand. It rounded back on itself and strode towards the palace and stooped holding it's right out as it walked, allowing Elsa to climb on. She peered back at the three snow golems, attempting to channel more power into them to prevent them melting.

But she saw two things. One of the snowmen, the boulder handed one, keeled over as flames licked at it's legs. The boulder arms flew wildly and took out the roof of a building. As the red haired woman turned her attention to the others. And the other, she saw Hans grab his sword and find his feet. The sword ignited in those eerie, jet black flames again, and He threw it. It embedded itself in one of the golems.

The golem let out an unearthly roar and Elsa shielded her ears as she ducked back down into the golem's hand.

It strode over the walls of the castle and deposited it's delicate cargo down slowly. Elsa strode off gracefully and surveyed the scene. It appeared all of Arendelle's citizens were gathered in the courtyard. Some were streaked with soot and cinders. Some bloody. Some cradling their children in an attempt to keep them safe.

All looked to Elsa.

"Your majesty" came the voice of Kai as he panted and jogged through the crowd, his voice hoarse and his red face.

"Kai" she said, before her eyes rolled. She gingerly prodded the injury to her shoulder and tried not to think about how much blood she'd lost. "Find me Grand Pabbie, the troll leader." she ordered quietly, gesturing to Anders lying on the floor motionless.

"Bu-but, the guests, the townspeople I-" He blustered.

"Please Kai, I'll deal with them as soon as I've spoken to him"

"Right" Kai said, and was replaced by a cluster of guards, including a decorated one Elsa assumed was a captain of some sorts.

"Your majesty, what do you wa-" the captain began, before another roar sounded out across Arendelle. Everyone's heads turned towards the market just in time to see a huge fireball sail over the walls and strike the golem stood in the courtyard directly in the head.

There were gasps and struggles to get away as he keeled over and landed in the courtyard with a steaming crater dripping with water where his head used to be.

"I'll tell you what I need, not what I want" Elsa said quietly, and the three guards glanced at each other quickly before one nodded slowly. Elsa turned her head towards Arendelle's square again. "Is everyone from the town inside?" she said.

"Yes your majesty, and we-"

Elsa silenced him with a raise of her hand, and said the words she swore she'd never say again.

"Close the gates."

* * *

><p><strong>Sooo it took me about 8 hours to write 1000 words purely because I'm not sure where I want to write a really wordy meaty chunk and kept re-writing it. Euch.<strong>

**Had someone ask how long this is going to go on, it's supposed to be about twenty five chapters so, yeah hopefully I'll stick to it. But I'd also plan to write a sequel story to it called Black Ice (Which I did not get the idea for from an AC/DC album shut up) if I ever get through it. I'm getting a franchise on the go here.**

**I'll apologise in advance if it doesn't get updated until next week. 1. I've got Uni as per and 2. I feel I should update my other fanfic... soon**

**You people who leave nice reviews make me happy, you guys rock the casbah like the Clash :)**

**Now shush, I'm watching Countdown on 4OD #thingsbritsdo**


	13. Chapter 13

"Those walls aren't going to hold whatever's out there Elsa"

Elsa wasn't registering anything. Her palms were grinding against her forehead, sweating. She never did that. There was so much noise, both inside and outside the walls, and an awful smell of acrid smoke in the air.

"Elsa!"

Big meaty hands shook her by the shoulders. She glanced to the side to see guards lifting Anders' body and carrying him inside.

"Elsa!"

A hand slapped her face.

She shook her head blearily and looked into Kristoff's eyes.

* * *

><p>"Put me down Kristoff, put me down"<p>

Anna was no longer in Kristoff's arms. After swinging a well aimed fist at his nose dislodging it from the bridge he'd flung her over his shoulder. She was incoherent, screaming for Elsa, refusing to let her stay outside the walls on her own.

She ignored Kristoff's quiet pleas to be silent. She ignored the looks on the faces of every man, woman and child in the courtyard, and the calls from the guards. All her energy was used up as Kristoff calmly walked through the doors of their bedroom and laid he gently on the red fabric of their bed.

"Anna" he said quietly as he kissed her on the forehead.

Her eyes focused in on his face and she gasped loudly.

"Kristoff, your nose, I'm sorry I didn't mean to I... I didn't-" Anna rambled incoherently, before she broke down in a fresh wave of sobs.

"Shhhhh, Anna, it's alright" Kristoff said soothingly as he stroked her hair. She curled up into a ball on the bed and sniffled quietly.

"Anna, I promise that as soon as I know you're alright, I'm going to go back out there and make sure Elsa's alright" he said quietly as he stroked his hand through her auburn locks.

He sat there in silence quietly stroking her hair as Anna quietened down and her breathing slowed. She rolled her head to one side slightly and looked at Kristoff through a red puffy eye.

"Get her back" she said in the quietest of voices.

Kristoff planted one final kiss on her head as she buried her face in her arms and the pillow.

He stood up and walked briskly out of the room, telling a guard to watch over the princess and began to run towards the stairs when he had to clamp his hands over his ears after hearing an unearthly roar.

"...Marshmallow" he uttered quietly, thinking back to the snow creature who'd thrown him out of Elsa's palace almost half a year ago.

He ran out of the main castle doors to see the main gates being closed and a giant melting snowman slumped over into one of the fountains. Kai stepped into his line of sight.

"Kristoff, uh... " he whispered, "where is the Troll leader?"

Kristoff blinked twice.

"The portrait gallery" he replied quietly. Kai gave the slightest of nods and paced off quickly. Kristoff glanced to the side to see four guards motioning over Anders. He could have sworn he had red streaks in his hair. Bright red, not coppery like Anna's, but like the skin of a strawberry.

A couple of townspeople called his name or asked favours of him as he brushed through the crowd, and he absentmindedly pointed towards guardsmen to help with particular problems. A crying child, an elder with an injury, hungry, thirsty, missing. He glossed over all of them as he saw Elsa stood in a clearing. Hands on her forehead trying to block out the world.

He gripped her by the shoulders.

"Kristoff I... I..." Elsa began with tears in her eyes.

"Elsa whatever Hans has done to, that" he said, pointing at the headless snow golem lying in the fountain, "won't be stopped by the walls, you need to think of something.

"Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" came a mocking cry from outside the walls. A flash lit up directly castle walls, followed by a scream as one of the guards stumbled backwards off the wall wreathed in flames. Elsa instinctively stretched her hands out and he landed in a pile of snow, which steamed on contact.

Satisfied he was unharmed she turned her gaze upwards, and paced off.

* * *

><p>"Queen Elsaaaaaaaa" came the taunting voice again as Hans stood on the bridge connecting the castle to the square, twirling his sword. His sideburns and unkempt hair fluttered in the breeze.<p>

Another shot of fire came from behind him as the woman hurled it from her right hand. It glanced off one of the castle turrets leaving some of it blackened and singed, smoking slightly.

Elsa shielded her eyes from the glare of the sun as she made her way along the walkway and looked down from the imposing walls to see no more than six men in red cloaks, one covering a burn on his face, one missing an arm.

"So good of you to join us today your majesty," Hans mocked as Elsa's eyes were drawn to him.

"What do you want Hans?" the Queen asked in a flat voice, not changing her tone for a second.

"You know Elsa," he began. "I had a rule before. Don't tell people your whole plan until you can guarantee they're going to die." he prodded the end of his gloved hand with the barb of his sword. "But then, Anna goes and dies, but then comes back anyway."

Elsa saw red. Her hand gripped the waist level wall in front of her and her knuckles went white.

"So here you are asking what I want and I'm afraid I can't tell you, or at least not until I guarantee you're going to die. But then again I wouldn't need to do that. You'd have nothing left once Anna was dead so all I'd need to do is get to-"

Elsa's mind flashed beyond all reason and she shot a blast of ice towards him. It met a flash of black and red in mid air and only served to irritate Hans as it splashed over him.

"Oh, have you met Helia" he continued, the tone of his voice aggravating Elsa to her very core.

The red haired woman stepped forward and bowed her head low, before tossing her hair over her head as she stood up. Elsa noted it ran below her waist as she raised a hand over her right shoulder and fiddled absentmindedly with a strand.

"Oh don't look at her like that" he continued, "it's not her birth name no, it seems a lot more sunny. Because she is this very, very special person I was trying so very, very hard to tell you about."

"What is it you want Hans, I won't ask again" Elsa hissed loudly.

Hans looked at the ground for a second, before turning his head back up to Elsa with a smirk creeping across his face.

"I heard you didn't grow up with Anna. So you don't know the feeling of jealousy over what another child has. You either want to take it so you can enjoy it, or destroy it so no one else can."

He glanced at the woman he'd called Helia.

"And you also don't know what it's like to grow up with nothing. To have nothing but what you're given by your parents. To live inside-"

He was cut off by a spray of snow.

"I know what it's like to grow up with nothing Hans" she said quietly as she fixed him with a steely gaze.

"You know nothing."

Elsa switched her eyes to Helia.

"You don't know what it's like when you're starving, and your mother gives up her life and dies from hunger in front of you just so you can eat. You don't know what it's like to see the rich parade around when you're forced to sleep on earth. To have people taunt you for your gifts. The day they tried to burn me was the day I vowed to take what I deserve."

The woman's eyes were blazing, staring up at Elsa. She spat some of the words, her accent making some difficult to follow.

"And what do you deserve" Elsa replied, the slightest hint of fear slipping into her voice. She wished it hadn't as she saw Hans' smile widen as her voice quavered slightly.

"Well Elsa that is a good question." Hans smirked. "I think she deserves at least a Kingdom. And you have a very nice one right here." Hans paused as he ran his fingers through Helia's hair and she shot him a flirtatious glance.

"So one of two things are going to happen. Either Helia gets to enjoy your kingdom, or I get to destroy it, either way," he pointed the sword towards the gates "Those gates are all that stand between us."

"No" said Elsa loudly. "They aren't"

There was a terrible crashing sound as Hans tripped backwards. A wall of ice burst through the bridge, shattering the stone as if it were glass. It grew until it was almost five feet thick as it continued to spread from both it's sides, spreading in a huge arc as it ran round the castle walls.

* * *

><p>Anna looked out of her window to see some of the sunlight fading. She stood up and ran to the window to see a huge wall over ice curving inwards like a dome forming over the palace.<p>

It rose high into the sky and came to a close just above the pinnacle of the castle. An eerie stillness passed after the thud of it all settling. The air inside grew chilly.

"Elsa" she said quietly, before turning on her heels.

"Princess Anna" came the nervous voice of a guard blocking the door.

"You, ummm... I... We're going to find the queen. Now"

The guard shifted uneasily.

"That's an order from the Crown Princess of Arendelle, now move." she said, shoving him away from the doorway with a surprising amount of strength. He stumbled into the wall before running after her.

* * *

><p>"So that's how she wants to play" said Helia quietly, as she hurled a lick of flame at the dome. It didn't make a drop of water or steam as it dissipated. Her nostrils flared and she breathed out heavily. A few more attempts confirmed she couldn't melt the ice.<p>

"Well then, I guess it's time no one enjoys this place" said Hans quietly, taking a lit torch off one of the red cloaks and pacing off into the square.

* * *

><p>"Elsa!" Kristoff shouted.<p>

He couldn't believe what he was seeing, the amount of ice surrounding the castle was incredible. It was almost transparent, and should have been intensifying the sunlight, but in fact the air was pleasantly cool. His breath condensed in front of him as he breathed a quiet sigh upon seeing Elsa step backwards from the wall.

His relief turned to horror when he saw her head loll backwards as she fell off the wall into the courtyard and landed on the ground with a hollow thump.


	14. Chapter 14

Elsa's eyes focused in on Anna leaning over her, applying a cool flannel to her head.

"Hey" she said quietly.

Elsa attempted to reply but only managed to let out a small groan. She felt a hard hand on the other side of her head. It prodded twice. She raised a hand to bat it away.

"Apologies Elsa," came a gravelly voice. "I merely wish to see if you're alright."

Elsa attempted to roll her head to the side but she retched slightly.

"Easy Elsa, you hit your head real hard" came Anna's voice again. Elsa blindly reached out with her hand and only served to grasp thin air. A couple of seconds passed, though to Esla they felt like hours, before she felt thin fingers link in between her own.

"Is... every... safe..." Elsa managed to say quietly.

"Yeah Elsa everyone's fine, I dunno how you did it but whatever you've built around us can't be melted. What the heck did you do?"

Elsa let out a small groan.

"Elsa!"

Elsa's eyes snapped back open.

"Give her a moment Anna, she hit her head very hard, it's only natural that it might take a while to come back to us."

Elsa glanced to her left to see Grand Pabbie stood over her, gently probing the tender area around the side of her head.

"Elsa, when you feel quite up to it, I might ask your assistance in something" he continued, his voice soft and kindly.

He stepped slowly off the bed onto a small set of wooden steps that had no doubt been brought there to aid him and trudged slowly to a sofa by the window. The curtains were drawn, keeping the room in darkness.

"You may recall when I healed a young girl of an ailment not too dissimilar to the one this boy has been struck with," Pabbie said quietly. Elsa realised he was talking about Anna, but kept quiet. "Well she was hit by something far weaker than what this boy has endured, and I need something to counteract the heat burning his mind away."

Elsa glanced at the sofa to see Anders lying there, the red in his hair stood out in the darkness. It was almost as if it was glowing. Elsa glanced at Anna and thought about how terrified she was the moment she'd struck Anna in the head.

She pushed Anna's hand off her head and groggily rolled to one side, crawling across the bed.

"Elsa he said when you-" Anna began, but Elsa silenced her with a wave of her hand as she stopped and awkwardly lifted her legs around to place them on the ground.

Pabbie climbed slowly up onto the sofa and crouched on the arm above Anders' head. Anna ran around the bed to support Elsa, placing one hand around her left shoulder and holding her right hand in her own.

Elsa looked as Pabbie placed a hand on Anders' forehead and extended his own towards her.

"Elsa, if you would please give me own hand and place your other on this young man's forehead."

Elsa barely registered what was happening as she felt Anna's hand be replaced by the cold rocky hand of the troll, and Anna guided her other hand onto his forehead.

"Thank you, now all I need you to do is think of how you want this boy to heal, and I shall do the rest."

Elsa closed her eyes. She didn't know him at all, how could she do that. She'd been accosted by his father and enraged that they'd turned up, and that he'd ran off. But she'd also caused him to fall from a building. And she'd seen him get blasted in the head with whatever caused this.

She glanced down at his left arm, the skin blackened and mottled.

"Anna" she said, barely louder than a whisper. She was thankful that Anna didn't register her name being called.

Elsa thought of the journey to the Valley of the Living Rock when she was younger. How tiny Anna had looked. The thought that she might never warm up. She focused on Anna being safe.

"Elsa I see what you're doing, but I need you to draw your thoughts away from her and focus on this boy."

Elsa screwed her eyes shut. She couldn't heal him, not like she could if it was Anna. The strain caused a strange sensation. She could feel the blood pumping in her head. Just heal damn you.

There was a sharp blue flash as Anna gasped and jumped backwards. Elsa's left hand suddenly felt cooler, like it wasn't against something burning. She opened her eyes to see a contented smile spread over Anders' face.

Pabbie jumped down, landing surprisingly quietly.

"The boy will be alright for now, please excuse me, I said I would tend to the wounds of some of your villagers." he said quietly, before making his way slowly out the door.

"W-wait..." Elsa said breathlessly, barely audibly. She felt exhausted, like all her remaining energy had been spent.

"Courage Elsa" he said quietly as he pushed the doors open. Elsa saw Sven smile at her as Pabbie climbed on his back. All too soon the friendly reindeer was gone.

Elsa looked at Anna. Her hair was a mess and her white dress, pristine so few hours ago, was blackened with soot.

"So... sorry... Anna" she whispered, before collapsing against her younger sister as sobs racked her body.

* * *

><p>Kristoff felt so tired. At least in the dome he felt cool, but he'd spent the whole hour since watching Elsa fall. He remembered carrying Elsa to her room and promising Anna he'd help make everything okay.<p>

Now he just sat on the fountain watching snowflakes occasionally drop from the dome.

"It's so beautiful," he murmured. Kai, sat beside him massaging one of his legs, nodded, his face berry red from exhaustion.

Kristoff hummed as he wiped his brow. Most people were inside the palace. A dew were collecting more cloaks, or bringing wood and food from the winter stores to the kitchen and great hall. The decadence of a wedding celebration in winter was alien to Kristoff, who was used to making ends meet and survival with less than the bare necessities.

"What have I been doing?" he said quietly to Kai.

The servant glanced sideways to Kristoff. He wasn't aware Kristoff had barely any memory of the past hour, letting it blur over. Not directing the villagers inside and ensuring there was sufficient food to feed them and firewood to keep them warm. Not helping move anyone wounded to his own room so they could be treated by Pabbie when he was done with Elsa. Not telling his adoptive family he loved them like it was the last time he might see them alive.

"You're doing a wonderful job young man" Kai said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Kristoff turned his head towards the castle doors to see Sven gallop out and nuzzled his head against Kristoff's

"Hey buddy, where are you headed"

Sven brayed loudly and Kristoff flinched as he was showered in reindeer spittle.

"I can't understand you when you talk like that Sven, is Elsa awake?"

Sven nodded, before he glanced outside. Kristoff followed his gaze. As far as Kristoff could tell it wasn't even close to evening. It might have been midday when the carnage began perhaps. But the sky outside the dome was streaked with red and black. Kristoff assumed it was smoke and not the sunset.

"Yeah I know buddy" he said, stroking Sven's head slowly and standing up. He glanced at Kai and smiled slightly, letting out a silent laugh.

"What is it Kristoff?" he asked.

"If today had gone smoothly, I'd be married. And I'd be the happiest man on the planet. And now I'm just a little bit scared." he paused and glanced at the ground, "and all I care about is whether Anna's safe and happy."

"I think happy is a bit much to ask for here, even if you're asking Princess Anna" Kai said quietly.

Kristoff exhaled through his nose and smiled.

"Too much for even Anna to be happy. Never thought I'd hear that."

And he turned to walk through the doors to find the woman he should have been married to hours ago.

* * *

><p>Anna held Elsa tightly in her arms as her sobs died down first to laboured breathing, then to near silence as Elsa pressed her head against Anna's shoulder. By the time she'd quietened down, Anna had managed to sit her down on the end of the bed.<p>

Anna whispered soothing words that washed over Elsa as she drifted in and out of her surroundings.

"Sorry" was the first word she managed to squeeze out.

Anna glanced down at her.

How could you possibly think this is your fault Elsa. You're just so... just so...

"Warm hearted" Anna said without thinking, and smiled to herself.

"What?" mumbled Elsa, lifting her head away from Anna for what felt like the first time in hours.

"Elsa how can you possibly be sorry, none of this is your fault, you just, just... just... you're so warm hearted it's ridiculous."

Elsa wiped one of her bleary eyes with her sleeve.

"Irony" she said quietly, a small smile momentarily breaking her features, "is that where today is going?"

"Elsa stop it, come on, cheer up" Anna said giving her a playful shove.

"Why. This is twice a big day for you has been ruined. What's the point in being happy."

"Elsa, we're all safe in here because of you. That man on the sofa is going to be fine because of you. Maybe not today but some day I'm going to get married to Kristoff, and we're both still alive because of you. You've done great things today."

"But I shouldn't have needed to Anna"

"That doesn't matter Elsa!"

"It does to me!"

Thud.

Both pairs of eyes turned to see Anders had rolled onto the floor, lying face down. Anna carefully stood up, trying not to dislodge Elsa, who still looked groggy, to check on him.

"He's still breathing, still a little warm, hang on."

Anna strained as she shifted Anders onto the sofa again.

"He weighs a lot for a guy who's barely bigger than you Elsa."

Elsa stood up and walked over to him.

"I suppose I should be thankful. He did stop Hans from attacking me after a-ow!"

Elsa found a sharp pain burn from her shoulder when she tried to flex her fingers. She noticed a dressing had been wrapped around it.

"Oh... the arrow, I sorta forgot"

"Well you have been slipping in and out of consciousness since you were back in here. How are you so strong Elsa? How have you not just gone to sleep. If I was you I'd just be lying in bed eating chocolate right now."

Elsa glanced out the window.

_I have no idea_

The silence was broken by Kristoff opening the door.

"Hey" he said quietly.

"Hey" came the quiet reply from Anna, who walked over to him and planted a soft kiss on his cheek as he pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Are you okay?" he said quietly.

"I'm fine, how is everyone?"

"Well all the dignitaries are... placated. Everyone's fed and warm. I'd be lying if I said I know what we're doing next."

He brushed back her fringe and looked into her teal eyes.

"Sorry your big day wasn't as magical as it was meant to be"

Anna sighed and planted another kiss on his nose.

"Well it was hardly your fault. You're gonna be such a great husband"

Elsa glanced at the pair of them, then down at Anders. She felt his forehead. It still felt warm. Elsa knew she was colder than people should be but Anders still felt like he was on fire. He had tried to save her after all.

Without thinking, she leaned down and kissed his forehead lightly. Just for a few seconds, but she felt his head cool.

She gasped and recoiled as she felt his left hand roll away and brush against her leg as he opened his eyes.

"Are... are you an angel?" he said quietly.

"Anna, he's awake!"

Anna and Kristoff turned and paced over to stand next to Elsa, all three looking down as Anders attempted to sit up. He looked like Elsa felt.

"Oh, your majesty." he said quietly "Where's... where's my father?" he said quietly.

Elsa glanced sideways. How could she tell him his father was dead.

But then she remembered what Hans had told her about his father.

Her senses came back to her as she felt a surge of adrenaline, and she gripped Anders by the magenta fabric above the neckline of his jacket.

"I'm no angel, I might be your worst nightmare" she whispered quietly.

* * *

><p><strong>So today I found out my best friend (who I live with) might be moving back home for the rest of the uni year, which makes me sad<strong>

**But I did manage to write another whole chapter without being hungover, which makes me happy.**

**Enjoy**


	15. Chapter 15

"Elsa what are you doing?"

Anna's shouts seemingly fell on deaf ears as Anders was flash frozen between his waist and his shoulders, fixed to the sofa. Elsa could barely see straight past the thumping in her head and the pain radiating from her shoulder, and she pinched the bridge of her nose to regain focus.

"Elsa, you've just healed him and now you're, well, imprisoning him?"

Still with her hand fixed on his collar, Elsa glanced to one side as the ice crept above his shoulders and ran around the boundaries of his chin and up to his ears.

Anders couldn't move. His left arm burned with pain. He tried to scream in shock but for once found himself unable to make any noise. It was so cold. His forehead felt like it was on fire. He flexed his knees in desperation and realised he'd made contact with someone's leg. A second later more ice pinned his ankles to the floor.

The queen looked enraged, her lips barely moved when she spoke. The princess was much more animated, waving her arms and trying to grip Elsa by the shoulders, only to have her hands shaken off. The words coming out of her mouth getting progressively louder and slightly easier to understand.

It was so cold. Ice never usually felt this cold. Every piece of skin touching ice felt like it was being torn off, but everywhere else, under his clothes and his face, felt like it was ready to combust. It was like being trapped in a blizzard underneath a volcano.

_Swear to me Elsa_

Anders couldn't quite make out the words but they were louder a second time as he tried to read Anna's lips.

_Swear to me you won't kill him._

Anders blinked twice.

"I don't think you're a killer Elsa" he said in a quiet voice.

* * *

><p>"Look" Elsa began quietly as she ensured ice was covering Anders' ears, "Hans claims the ambassador was working for him. All evidence would point towards him working with this boy too"<p>

"You can't just, do this Elsa. Look at him, you know how hot he's been, that ice must be hurting him so much"

"I know" Elsa said quietly. She took her gaze off Anders and looked Anna in the eyes. Anna almost flinched as she narrowed them.

"Elsa" Kristoff said quietly as he attempted to place himself in between the sisters for Anna's own well being, "I don't know what you're planning on doing, but don't do something you'll regret lat-OW"

Kristoff glanced down at Anders' eyes screwed tight shut as he saw his right leg flail wildly, connecting with his shin again. Another flick of Elsa's wrist and his ankles were pinned down with a fresh layer of ice.

"Because of his father and Hans, I've seen my kingdom burned, my people attacked, sealed my castle and everyone in it away from the world AND seen my sister's wedding day ruined. Oh I won't regret doing anything right now Kristoff."

"Elsa you're not thinking straight, you-" Kristoff began

"Don't kill him." Anna said quietly.

Elsa glanced around at Anna, who was staring at the floor, looking like she wished she'd never said a thing.

"Anna, what did you-"

"Don't kill him" came the request again. She pushed Kristoff out of the way. "Elsa it's like you're a completely different person since this morning. I saw you push three men underwater and then freeze them under." Her hands were up in the air and she began to shout, "And then you got shot and now you're acting like this. You're exhausted and concussed and you can't do things like this!"

"Anna, please don't tell me what I can and can't do" Elsa hissed quietly.

"No Elsa, I'm scared right now, and not just because of what's going on outside. I'm scared of you."

Elsa's eyes widened and her eyebrows shot up.

"I don't want you to become something you're not, so don't kill him. I don't want to be in here but I'm not leaving until you say you're not going to kill him. Say you won't kill him. Swear to me Elsa."

"Anna I don't know wh-"

"SWEAR TO ME YOU WON'T KILL HIM"

There was an awful silence as tears began to form in Elsa's eyes.

"I don't think you're a killer Elsa" came a quiet voice.

All three pairs of eyes rounded on Anders, still sat frozen still, shivering.

"You can hear us from in that?" Kristoff asked quietly.

Anders glanced at him for a few seconds.

"I can't hear unless you yell" he deadpanned.

Anna and Kristoff glanced at Elsa. She wiped her eyes for a second before causing the ice around Anders' ears to shatter.

Anna stared at him silently until he met her gaze.

"Anna, I'll swear to you she won't kill me"

"And how do you know she won't" Anna replied quietly, her voice staying monotone.

"She's not a killer, not like Hans. She won't kill me because it's fun, or because she can. I believe that I'm safe in a room with her."

Anna glanced at Elsa, who seemed to have lost all of the commanding prescence and energy she held mere moments ago, and seemed oddly tiny. Once again she'd returned to the familiar position of folded arms and eyes fixed on the floor.

"If he doesn't come out of this room, I'm leaving. For good" Anna said, before turning and walking out of the room. Kristoff quickly paced to Elsa and gave her the briefest of hugs and whispered something in her ear, before turning on the spot and walking out.

Kristoff closed the doors and followed Anna down the hall into her bedroom to find her sat down on her bed.

And as soon as they were sure the other was out of earshot, both sisters began to cry.

"Don't-" Elsa tried to stutter in between sobs. "Don't look at me"

Anders closed his eyes.

"Why?"

Elsa didn't respond, she just cried into her arms.

"My two best friends were on that ship you know Elsa."

"And so was your father" Elsa sniffled, "how much did you know?"

"About what?"

Elsa glared at him.

"I got told we were coming to Arendelle about 2 hours before we left." he began, "My life in the Southern Isles was 'do what you're told'. Didn't you wonder why I wanted to leave so much?"

Elsa glanced around at him. It was difficult to tell if he was telling the truth. He hadn't made a slip up since he hadn't heard how much she knew about his father.

"How old are you Anders?" she said quietly.

He blinked.

"Twenty two."

"You look younger. So you still get made to follow orders like a child, even from your father?"

"We can't all grow up in a quiet palace with servants and everything handed to us Elsa, the Southern Isles are a disaster waiting to happen. There's thirteen sons all vying for influence and their father's approval. Then there's all their sons and daughters. And all the court members The line of succession is colossal and... I'd swear that Hans isn't the only one with a mean streak in him. It's a miracle that none of them did anything like him before now."

"Where does that leave you?"

"Maybe the senior ambassadors are important in Arendelle, but there's over fifty in the Southern Isles, and I'm just one of the sons. I've been like a glorified footrest for all my life Elsa. It's better than some lives out there, but it's not much of one. Those Isles are one giant shining tower of prosperity and hope with no foundations. By the time there's a new king the whole place will have crumbled into anarchy. Between you and me you can thank your lucky stars you're not connected to them by trade any more."

Elsa paced over to him and wiped her eyes, which were now almost as red as the streaks in Anders' hair. She sat down on the sofa next to him, causing some of the ice to vanish from around her.

"What made you think I wouldn't kill you?"

Anders attempted to twist his neck but found it was still fixed in place, so he kept staring straight ahead, unable to see Elsa focusing her eyes on him.

"For the past six months almost every high court member in every kingdom for hundreds of miles around has been aware of what happened here. And we're all aware that you and your sister never grew up together. I think the one thing that would hold you back is that if you became something like Prince Hans, you'd never be able to reconnect with Anna."

"I'm broken Anders" she said quietly.

There was a long pause.

"I think we're all a little broken Elsa."

"I'm more than a little broken."

Another pause.

"I guess, I could try and fix you?"

Elsa laughed quietly.

"Have you not been paying attention today? I've thrown you off a roof and you've had your mind set on fire, you've woken up in here twice and the second time I kissed you on the forehead a-"

"You did what?"

Elsa rubbed her eyes.

"And then I practically tried to torture you, surely your left arm must be killing right now"

"Actually I think it's gone numb"

"Don't interrupt" Elsa said, flashing into queen like authority for a moment. "I barely know what I'm feeling any more. I spent thirteen years doing nothing but suppressing my emotions and now they all just come out at once. There's no explanation for how I feel everything at once. Like you, I only met you today and I don't know if I want to free you or punch you or laugh at you or... "

"Or what?"

"...fix you?" the queen said quietly.

"I think you've got a kingdom to fix first your majesty." he laughed.

Elsa glanced at him. A thin layer of rime was beginning to form on his skin and his eyelids were slipping shut. She slowly caused the ice around his neck to recede without him noticing as she stood up.

"My dad went all over the world, and sometimes he'd take me with him. The best trip I ever had was when we went to a trade conference in Britain. It was only for two days, but then we went to China with a British diplomat and his family. I was away from the Southern Isles for nearly a year and a half. And it was the best time of my life. And when we were staying in this village I found this statue of a woman in full Chinese armour."

Elsa looked across the room, where Anders was still sat. She found it difficult to concentrate on his words and her writing at the same time.

"So I asked a villager who she was. And the translator told me that she was a girl, way younger than you are right now Elsa, who took her father's armour and disguised herself as a boy in the army just so her father would stay safe from war. And in the Chinese mountains she killed maybe thousands of Huns herself by causing an avalanche."

Elsa reached over to a pot of hot wax and began pouring it on a folded piece of paper.

"And I don't think that young girl was someone who killed because she could. She wasn't a killer. She was a defender of freedom. She didn't kill thousands of Huns because she wanted to. She did it because it was the right thing to do, and that's why-"

He span his head round when there was a muffled thud and he saw a seal being pressed into the wax.

Elsa picked up a closed letter and placed it on the table beside him.

"When people come checking, the letter closest to you is for Anna, Kristoff, and the courts."

"What does it say?" He said, raising an eyebrow.

"It states you're to be given a home here, if you want it, among other things."

Anders' eyes narrowed.

"And the other one?"

"This is for the eyes of Crown Princess Anna, and Anna alone, in case I don't come back from this."

"This?"

Elsa paced over and sat beside Anders again.

"I'm going to go and fix my kingdom Anders. I'm going to do the right thing." she said quietly as he turned his head to meet her gaze.

She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. He felt like fire incarnate. He kissed back slightly as she recoiled. He blinked slightly and pulled his head back.

"Your emotions really are everywhere your majesty."

"If I come back, promise you'll try and fix me, and I'll try to fix you." Elsa said, as she stood up and walked out of the room.

He looked her in the eyes as she looked back.

"I swear" he said quietly.

And the door clicked shut.

* * *

><p>There was a knock on the door of Anna's bedroom. Kristoff was the only one of the two who'd noticed. Anna hadn't said a word since collapsing on her bed, and Kristoff had given up trying to comfort her after maybe ten minutes of talking, only to be rewarded with silence.<p>

"Yes?" Kristoff called. Anna merely remained curled up in his arms.

"Queen Elsa has instructed you go to her chambers." came a guard's voice.

"Is she still in there?"

"No she's down in the courtyard"

Kristoff stood up and kissed Anna on the forehead.

"I'll only be gone a second, I swear."

Silence.

* * *

><p>"What are you still doing here?" Kristoff said sharply to Anders, whose head snapped sharply at the mention of his name.<p>

"Table... letter" he said quietly, unable to string a sentence together. His teeth chattered.

Kristoff walked quickly over to the end table to see two letters, both stamped shut with Elsa's seal; a silhouette of herself against a snowflake.

"Where's Queen Elsa gone?" he demanded loudly, as he picked up the second one. Unlike the other, it had one word written on the outside.

_Anna_

"Kristoff, sir" came a shout from the hallway as another guard ran in. "The queen, she's, she-" the guard paused and gasped, his face red, "she left. Made a hole in the dome in front of the gates then just walked out and closed it again."

Kristoff turned the letter over in his hands as Anders' head slumped forwards.

* * *

><p><strong>Ayyyyy I successfully wrote a whole chapter without the aid of a hangover woo.<strong>

**Please excuse if the next update takes a while I've got a vicious piece of Quantum coursework to do over the next fortnight and it's my grandparents' golden wedding anniversary next weekend (yay) so I'll be wearing a suit and getting paralytically drunk.**

**Oh and happy St. Patrick's day, I hope that the one thing you learn this year is that his colour was blue not green, just to confuse your head. Ta ta.**


	16. Chapter 16

Kristoff had been gone for almost 5 minutes before Anna even realised she wasn't still wrapped up in his arms.

"Kristoff?" she called quietly.

No answer, she called again. The door creaked and a soldier leaned his head in. Anna frowned slightly at him.

"Can I help you princess?"

Anna wiped her eyes with the back of her arm and stood up.

"Where's Kristoff?" she sniffled.

The guard tilted his head slightly, and pointed out of the door.

"Down the hall, the Queen's bedroom"

Anna noted his uniform was scorched along the arm. She was reminded somewhat of Anders. She nodded a silent thank you and took off, holding her skirt up as she ran. She heard voices and Kristoff barking instructions as she got closer, the sound of ice smashing.

"Kristoff what are you doing?" Anna shouted as she walked into the room to see two guards pulling shards of ice away from Anders as Kristoff attempted to bring him round.

"Anna" he exclaimed, as he gestured to another guard by the window

_How many guards do we have anyway?_

The third guard took Kristoff's place as he walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug. She pushed him away and looked him dead in the eyes.

"Where's Elsa?" she demanded, sounding more authoritative than she ever had. He backed away slightly, his expression blank.

"Gone" he said quietly.

Anna felt herself tear up slightly. She shoved him.

"What do you mean gone?" she shouted, beyond all comprehension.

Every single time I think she's there she leaves again. This is... this is...

Kristoff placed his index finger under her chin and tilted her head up to face him. He stared into her teal eyes for a second before leaning in and kissing her lips. She closed her eyes and murmured slightly before pulling away.

"Where is Elsa" she said. Her eyebrows moved closely together as her eyes narrowed. Kristoff pointed towards the guard gathering shards of ice from around Anders' feet as the other two hauled him away towards Elsa's bed

"Get something to wake him up," Kristoff said as Anna walked over to the guard attempting to clear the ice away. She watched her breath condense in the air. It was never just going to melt on it's own.

"Where'd she go?" she said quietly to the guard. He sighed and placed the ice he was holding back on the ground, and wiped away the water which had formed from melting ice against his body heat.

"The queen just, walked through the gates and onto the bridge... it had sort of collapsed where that ice wall had burst through it."

The guard crunched ice under his foot. Anna coughed indignantly, Kristoff glanced over at the pair of them before feeling Anders' forehead.

"Then there was this, sort of, flurry of snow and she made this archway in the dome, right where the bridge should be. And I shouted after her. And so did Johan," he gestured to another guard, "and she just looked back and... I don't know what she said but the next thing I know there's a set of huge doors in the dome and she's... gone."

* * *

><p>Anna slammed her fist on the doors. Again. And again. And again. Over and over until Kristoff grabbed her arm and pulled her back.<p>

"Calm down feisty pants, this isn't going to budge."

The door was an exact copy of the one that Elsa had hidden behind for so many years, sculpted perfectly in ice. Anna had recognised the design instantly and it had sent her running for the door, screaming.

"Come on Elsa, haven't you learned to open doors when I knock" she shouted to no one in particular, attempting to break free of Kristoff's grip. Several guards and Kai had appeared with a heavy log and brusquely pushed past her and Kristoff .

There was a resounding echo inside the dome of ice as the log smashed into the door. They pulled back to assess their handiwork and found a single dent hadn't been made.

"Men," Kristoff began as Anna finally wilted and refused to keep struggling, "we are going to break down this door, we are going to find the queen, we are going to bring her back inside for her own safety. That is out one concern. Are we clear?"

A flurry of nods was seen as Kai stepped back and gestured for Anna to move back inside the gates. Kristoff let her arms go and placed a hand around her shoulder as they walked back through.

"Why won't she ever let us help?" she said to Kristoff.

"What do you mean?"

"I've barely spent as much time as I wanted with her. She was always in her study doing trade deals and arranging events and just... Thirteen years on and we were barely talking."

Kristoff smiled as he breathed out and the air condensed in front of Anna's face.

"Anna she told me all she wished she could do was spend more time with you."

"She was queen, she could do whatever she wanted" Anna snapped back.

"I think Elsa was a lot less free than all of us. You're a spare, not an heir, it's not like you spent your entire life being groomed to be queen, didn't you spend your entire teenage years just running around the castle and talking to pictures?"

"I didn't want to!"

"Yeah but you had the option! Even if Elsa hadn't hidden away all those years she'd still have had every responsibility your father had, you don't get how lucky you must have been to be second born."

Anna shoved him away roughly.

"Don't talk to me right now Kristoff" she said, folding her arms and scowling. She turned and walked away.

"Anna!" Kristoff called but she only upped her pace as she disappeared into one of the towers.

"Kristoff, calm yourself," came a gravelly voice from behind him. Kristoff span around to see Pabbie stood by his ankles.

"Calm myself? After on my wedding day Anna won't even talk to me after all this happened? How am I meant to stay calm right now cause I could REALLY use some troll wisdom here Pabbie!"

"Trust me" Pabbie said quietly, "she will be fine. There is someone else we should keep an eye on."

* * *

><p>"Have you noticed the bubbles?"<p>

Anna span around when she heard the voice behind her. She lowered her arms from a defensive raised position when she saw it was only Anders. The red streaks in his hair reminded her awfully of her own formerly blonde streak.

"Bubbles?"

She glanced down from the castle wall. He pointed with his left hand away from the castle out towards the fjord. She stared at the hand intently for a second before following his pointing finger.

"Bubbles" she said quietly.

Sure enough, right where he was pointing, a pocket of air bubbled up to the surface. And another, and another.

"What so special about bubbles?"

"Air. Air's getting through under there" he said as an even larger bubble appeared on the surface. "Lots of air" he added.

"So what?"

"I don't know, maybe there's a gap big enough to fit through under the ice over there." he said as he walked off.

"Wait, where are you going?"

He looked back

"To tell them" he said as he pointed to the gathering of men in the courtyard, who were now attempting to chisel the end of the wooden log into a point.

He turned away and began to descend the stairs. He stopped dead.

_Oh don't say she's going to_

He pivoted on the ball of his foot and nearly toppled backwards down the stairs as he scrambled back up them and poked his head out of the door in time to see Anna jump off the walls.

He ran and leaned over the side to see her swimming towards the place where the bubbles were appearing and called her name. She didn't respond, she only dove underwater.

_That must be freezing_

"Hey" came a shout from behind him as two guards ran up behind him.

"Where's the princess" one of them demanded while the other leaned on his halberd to catch his breath.

Anders glanced behind him.

"Outside the dome"

The second guard picked up his halberd and pointed it an Anders' stomach.

"No funny jokes, where is the princess?"

Anders looked at the spike pointing at him. He looked behind him at the water.

_Well I really wish I had a better idea than this._

And with that he vaulted into the water and plunged under. He gave his eyes a second to adjust to the water and flinched as the halberd speared the water inches away from his shoulder.

_Please say you're not too hard to bring back princess_

* * *

><p><strong>Aight people<strong>

**Sorry I haven't updated this in over a week...sorrysorrysorry, but in my defense it was my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary last weekend so shush. I'm sorry it's a bit short I'm still dealing with that quantum coursework but life goes on, next chapter should be at least a bit longer.**

**Ciao, Frodo**


	17. Chapter 17

"Did you get him?"

The two guards peered over the wall.

"I don't know, it should have been floating by now. Must have stuck in him."

"If you hit him with that there's be blood and he'd be floating"

The first guard waved his hand at the water" Well then where is it? You heard what happened to him maybe his blood is lava or something, maybe he doesn't float."

His colleague didn't believe him and cast him a cynical glance before surveying the water again.

"Well there's hardly anywhere he can go is there? Look at this dome." The first one said nervously. All he got was another unimpressed look.

"Look we have to go tell Kristoff okay, then we can worry about where he's hiding and why your magical lava piercing halberd."

The first guard scowled and his nostrils flared as the second made his way towards the stairs.

* * *

><p>Anna had found her way through. Almost instantly she'd spotted where the gap was. There was a small outcropping of rocks where the dome curved away from the harbour and began to surround the castle, and only a few inches below the surface was small area jutting through where the rocks hadn't been covered by ice. It was exposed on the one side where it should have been submerged. It would have been easy to squeeze through if she wasn't wearing a wedding dress.<p>

Anna hadn't had a hand in making her wedding dress, but it wasn't made for swimming. The fabric became extremely heavy the more Anna swam and she felt the need to gasp for air. The chill in the water began to take its toll as she pushed on towards the crevice and her hands were almost numb when they made contact. Her fingers slipped through a slimy layer of algae as she struggled to get a grip.

After what felt like an eternity of dragging herself through the cold water her head & shoulders squeezed through the gap. The temperature change was immense, the water felt warm, like climbing into a hot bath. Anna let out a gasp when her legs jerked backwards and she looked backwards to see her wedding dress and hips caught in the rock crevice.

Anna kicked her legs for all she was worth and tried to push herself through as she felt the need to gasp for air. She instinctively gasped as water filled her lungs

_No, no, oh god_

More water flooded her mouth as she coughed.

_Oh god Elsa I'm sorry_

Then everything went black.

* * *

><p>Elsa hadn't stopped walking since she'd left. There'd been no sign of anyone, least of all Hans. There was no sign of anything except debris and ash.<p>

The first thing she'd seen was the square, ankle deep in ash with all the buildings around it little more than waist high piles of charcoal, some still smoldering while others were just lay there, the fires having long burnt out. Elsa recognised the building that had once been a chocolatier. And the bakers who'd made Anna's wedding cake.

The harbour looked like a charred graveyard, with the blackened hulls of three ships bobbing around the one ship left in a seaworthy condition, the one Hans had arrived in.

There was a flash from up on the hill that caught Elsa's attention. She continued onwards, passing the remains of the places her people had called homes. _What had become of the Kingdom of Arendelle? _she wondered aloud, as she stepped up the hill. The heel of her shoe caught between two cobbles and she crashed to the floor as her leg stopped working.

Elsa spat and spluttered as she landed in a pile of ash that covered the front of her body. Her eyes watered as she attempted to brush it away with her sleeve, only to rub it in more. Her eyes were bleary as she enveloped her palms in snow and waited for the oppressive heat to melt it to water.

_The heat_

Elsa hadn't registered it before, she hadn't been focused, but the sun was beating down mercilessly on Arendelle. The whole place felt like it was ready to turn into a desert. As if on cue a pine tree in the distance was lit aflame, the dry needles of its neighbours igniting in sequence until the whole line was ablaze.

Elsa was exhausted, the pain driving through her eyes and shoulder was almost unbearable, but she still reached out with her hand. Storm clouds formed above the trees and snow fell on them. Huge flurries steaming and hissing as the fire melted it on contact until after almost a minute the line was nearly extinguished.

"There she is!" came an odd accented shout at a crossbow bolt whistled past her ear and embedded itself in the embers behind her. She looked up to see a man close to seven feet tall stood on the remains of the first floor of a building. His eyes scrunched up in the sunlight as he pulled another bolt from his belt. It was caught in mid-air by ice, and before he knew it his hands were frozen together.

He vaulted down and landed heavily in the ash in front of her and drew himself to his full height as Elsa struggled to stand. She found a burst of energy and managed to push off and sprint as he brought his hands down in an arc and shattered the ice holding them together where she'd been lying.

"Idiot" came a shout from further down the street as the man rounded on Elsa again, a ball of fire arced its way through the air and landed in between the two of them. The man stepped back startled as Elsa climbed to her feet.

"You were all told not to kill her" came the voice again as another fireball whistled through the air and exploded near Elsa's foot. She stood up and span to see Helia striding towards her with a cat like grin on her lips, arms engulfed in black flames from fingers to shoulders. Her bright hair seemed to glow in the sun.

Helia strode towards her, hips swaying in her black leather outfit as embers spat from her hands and landed on the floor before fizzling out.

"You don't want me dead then?" Elsa asked meekly, rubbing her eye again as her eyelash fluttered.

She threw up a wall of ice as a black fireball flew straight towards her head. It melted leaving a dripping knee high block. Elsa looked up as Helia continued walking closer, her lips curled into a playful smirk.

"They can't kill you, but I can" she said, before raising her hands high into the air. There was a pause and the smell of toasted almonds filled the air.

_Odd_ Elsa thought as she sniffed the air. There was a faint screaming sound that began to grow ever louder as Elsa looked up. Her eyes widened as she saw glowing balls of fire the size of the jeweled orb she'd held at her coronation falling towards her.

She threw her arms over her head in a protective stance as a shield of ice formed above her head, hissing on contact as more and more rained down. Elsa felt droplets of water hitting her skin as she concentrated on maintaining the shield for as long as possible. There was a hiss as the last one hit and Helia breathed deeply.

"Can't keep on hiding all your life your majesty," she spat, "Fight back!" as a wave of fire spread out from her palms and hurtled towards Elsa, who responded in turn with the same defensive technique, creating a semicircle of ice in front of her. Helia squawked indignantly and her face contorted with anger as she flung her hands forward over and over, hurling blasts of black fire at the wall until it melted, creating an eerie aura of steam between the two.

Her eyes narrowed as the steam thinned, and she saw the silhouette of Elsa step forward once. Her confusion turned to shock as the ground below her began freezing to ice, creeping towards her she stepped back and slammed painfully into a wall of ice a her shoes slipped. Her sharp nails clawed the ground but failed to find any grip as Elsa used the wind to push her towards the square.

As Helia passed her screaming, sliding down the film of ice, Elsa span her head to glare at the guard. He looked for a second, before raising his hands in meek surrender and backing away into the charred building behind him. Elsa turned her head away and walked towards the square where she was pushing Helia.

* * *

><p>Anna coughed and spat salty water from her mouth as she felt a hand under her arm drag her onto the stone floor of the harbour. Her eyes were bleary and she struggled to see straight as she lay dripping on the stone. It felt like every cobble was burning and the air itself was on fire. She wiped her eyes to see Anders and his hands and kneed next to her, coughing.<p>

"Could you have not done that?" he said between coughs as she fell onto her side. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the change in light levels and her breath became rapid and panting as the hot, dry air crept into her lungs.

"Small slow breaths princess, till your lungs adjust to the heat" she heard a voice say as a hand rubbed her shoulder. She kept panting and he grabbed her shoulder and wrenched her into a sitting position and stared her in the eyes.

"Seriously. Slow small breaths until you can breathe properly". Sweat was beginning to run down his forehead and his fringe got stuck to it. One of his eyes flashed red for a second, then returned to be quite plain. Brown. Red again. Anna recoiled.

"Can you breathe now?" he asked as he stood up and brushed himself down. There was ash everywhere, down his jacket and boots, on the floor. He wasn't looking at her any more, he was looking at the wreckage bobbing in the harbour. Some of it still seemed to resemble ships.

"What is it?" she asked. He turned his head back to her a blinked, biting his lip as if he wasn't quite sure of what to say.

"I have to…. Just wait here for me okay?" he said.

And with that he turned and ran off down the harbour.

"Wait what are you doing?" Anna called after him, before he took a running dive into the water and began swimming towards one of the more intact ships.

"Oooooookay" Anna said to no one in particular. She felt she could breathe, though the heat was still incredible. She considered staying put like he'd said, but what was he going to do? No doubt simply bring her back inside. That wasn't why she'd left. She was going to find Elsa and keep her safe, just like Elsa would for her.

"Oh yeah cause this isn't a dumb idea…"

Anna was distracted from her own musings by the sound of screaming. Lifted up her dripping dress and ran up the stone steps to the square, to see the red-haired woman who'd threatened Elsa earlier sliding towards her on a carpet of ice. She ground to a halt painfully as the ice ran out.

Anna didn't make a sound as the woman stood up and a jet of fire flew away from her, only to hiss into a cloud of steam in midair as Anna watched Elsa walk into the square, covered in black ash. She was completely focused on the red woman. Nothing else. Until from the corner of her eye, she saw Anna. Her expression dropped and her eyes widened as her eyes met Anna's.

Then she shot backwards as a glowing red ball flew into her.

Anna looked at her sister. Then at the woman. And she did the only thing right in her head.

She charged right at the woman, who was still facing where Elsa had been stood, who turned and noticed Anna just at the last second as Anna rammed into her bent over low, shoulder first. Her shoulder connected with the tall woman at the base of her ribcage and knocked her down as Anna stumbled over her.

A flurry of snow flew over their heads as Elsa came running into the square and held her hands in front of her. Helia shielded her face as she was surrounded in a vortex of snow that began to close on her. An aura of fire began spinning in retaliation as the two became locked on each other, neither able to move for fear of the other overwhelming them.

"Anna, get away, you're not safe here!" Elsa shouted over the roar of the wind blowing across the square. Anna shielded her face from the cold wind blowing snow and ash everywhere as scrambled away from the snowstorm, before running straight into someone.

"That's right" came an oddly familiar voice, before a leather boot slammed down on Anna's knee and she screamed out in anguish and felt a hand grab the back of her hair.

Elsa screamed Anna's name and pulled away for a second before a lick of flame burst out between the two and she had to return her attention to Helia to prevent herself from being caught in the flames.

"There are so many reasons you aren't safe right now Anna' came the voice again as she looked up to see Hans grinning wildly as he pulled her away by the hair.

* * *

><p><strong>OKAY SORRY I DIDN'T PUT THIS UP YESTERDAY I FORGOT OH GOD BAD FRODO APRIL FOOLS JOKE WENT WRONG SORRY<strong>


	18. Chapter 18

Elsa was screaming Anna's name. It was so hot and so cold at the same time. She kept feeling flames lick her ankles, then her shoulders, while blocking out any voice besides Anna's. Elsa heard her crying. Crying out in pain. She sobbed Elsa's name.

And Elsa pushed harder.

Her head was throbbing as she channeled all the energy she had into pushing Helia away. The storm exuding from her palms grew fiercer and the sky began to darken above her head as the snow and wind howled around her. She saw the snow extending further away as Helia stepped back, panicking as Elsa threatened to overwhelm her. Elsa would have won, if she hadn't caught sight of Hans holding the barb of his sword against Anna's neck.

"That's far enough now Elsa" he taunted ad Anna trembled. The snow she was blowing in front of her was almost circular, keeping Helia pinned inside. She attempted to move her left hand away and towards Hans before a flame burst out and singed her hand, forcing her to keep it trained dead ahead.

Hans smiled as the wind in Arendelle began to pick up. Small snowflakes got caught in his sideburns and stood out against his jet black coat.

"This would all have gone so well if you'd just let the ambassador stay inside Elsa! You'd be dead by now and little Anna here would be perfectly safe, and instead you're forcing me to do this!"

"What do you mean Hans" Elsa screamed at him, not taking her eyes off Anna, who was trying to move her leg.

"Oh it was all going to go so well. Magnus was going to take Anna away after he convinced his son to kill you. Not that the boy knew of course, Magnus is a very good liar, but he had his son under his thumb."

Hans felt Anna try to move away, she let out an involuntary shriek when he jerked her head back. The barb of his sword cut the skin of her chin.

"Not going anywhere are we Anna? After all, you must still be in love with me surely? Love isn't a door Anna, it's a wound. Very difficult to seal."

"I never loved you" Anna said through gritted teeth as she tried to stem the flow of tears running down her face.

"Don't lie to me Anna, you're not like the ambassador, you're not like me, you're no liar. You're so open about everything it's so easy to read you. Didn't you learn that last time?"

"Clearly she didn't" came another voice from across the square as Anna struggled harder.

Elsa struggled to view the figure, but she recognised from the voice that it was Anders. She gasped as the sword was pulled right up to Anna's neck and drew blood. Anna stayed silent, continuing to struggle.

"Not so fast, you stay there or she dies, no trying to save her" Hans said. His voice quavered slightly as he said the word save, leading Elsa to guess he hadn't taken this into account.

"Well since I was apparently meant to kill the queen, if I heard you correctly, I can't see much point in doing that," he said calmly.

Hans opened his mouth but couldn't find the words. His jaw just hung there, open.

"Your father told you our plan?"

"No," Anders said calmly, "But most of it's in this book. Might have been nice if he'd told me" he continued, producing a small leather bound book, slightly burnt on one corner. He took a few steps towards Anna and Hans until Elsa came into view. Her blue eyes were narrowed to slits as her lips contorted into an expression of hate.

"I warned you Anders" Elsa shouted, "I warned you you'd regret doing anything to ruin today for the rest of your life. Get away from Anna now!"

Anders gave Anna a cruel grin as he dropped the notebook onto the ground in front of her. "My father's" he said, not changing his expression, before turning to Elsa. "Now the idea was that I kill you and my father take Anna back to the Southern Isles for possible ransom, but I can't see the point now that Anna is right here and so are you."

He grabbed the end of the sword between his fingertips and moved it down away from Anna's chin, tugging on it sharply as Hans released it. Anders placed it by his side as Hans grinned.

"All that effort and you still couldn't save your sister" Hans sneered at Elsa.

Anders thrust the sword back and forth twice, as if parrying an invisible enemy.

"The thing is Elsa, Hans described my father quite well. And I think I'm doing him proud, all this lying."

He jabbed the point of the blade into Anna's cheek slightly, breaking the skin and causing a small drop of blood to run down her chin. She refused to let any pain show.

"I'll kill you for this Anders, I swear it. I'll break you and I'll kill you"

The words came out of Elsa's mouth before she could think. All cared about was Anna. Her eyes were blazing, her head felt like it was going to explode. The amount of energy she was forcing herself to expend trying to keep Helia contained was enormous.

"No you won't Elsa" came Anders' voice. Anna glanced up at Hans, grinning like a madman, still holding her hair wound in his left hand. Her leg shifted slightly and she resisted the urge to scream in pain.

"There's two very good reasons why you won't Elsa." Anders continued, pulling the blade away from Anna and gripping her by the shoulder with his left hand as he faced Elsa.

"And what are they" Elsa said, as she began to think a truly terrible thought. Blood is a liquid. Blood can freeze. She reached out with her mind's eye and envisaged all of Anders' blood freezing solid in his veins.

"The first is, you're still no killer." Anders said. He seemed to stop for a second. The hand holding the sword moved to his chest and eyes widened.

"And the other?" Elsa said loudly, staring him straight in the eyes. Her blue eyes bored into his brown. They flickered red again for a second.

Anders smiled. Not the cruel smile he'd given Anna, the one he'd given her in her chambers. The smile he'd given her when he promised to fix her.

"I wasn't lying to you"

And in one swift movement he span around using Anna's shoulder as a pivot to gain momentum, and plunged the sword into Hans' leg.

Anna felt Anders push her away and felt a sharp pain as Hans' grip on her hair caused her head to snap backwards. Hans screamed in anguish as he attempted to remove the sword, blood seeping out and dripping down onto the scorched black stone beneath him.

Anders grabbed his arm and twisted it, causing his fingers to spring open. Anna kicked back with her free leg and began to crawl away.

"Try shutting that like a door your highness" Anders yelled as he punched Hans in the face. And again. Hans swung back with his right hand and knocked him away as he pulled the sword from his leg, alighting it to cauterise the wound. The barb tore flesh on the way out, making him cry out even louder.

Anders rolled over and gasped, clutching his heart. Elsa realised she was still trying to freeze his bloodstream. She reached out a hand and changed her every waking thought to 'thaw'. And that moment was all Helia needed to overwhelm her.

Elsa must have flown back at least twenty feet when the fireball his her. She crashed painfully against burned wood and debris and her eyelids fluttered as her vision went blurry.

"Elsa!" Anna called desperately as the red cloak Elsa had passed before came out of nowhere and swung his arm around her.

"The ship" Hans screamed over the commotion as he tried to stand, "The ship!"

"No!" Anna cried, trying to fight the man as he clamped his other arm around her neck and began dragging her towards the harbour. A rock connected with the man's forehead and she turned to see Anders running towards the two of them with a large piece of wood held in his hands like a club.

Then there was a flash.

Not like the orange flash that had connected with his head hours earlier. It was the black fire. It bowled him off his feet as he rolled to one side, the sleeve of his jacket on fire. As he desperately tried to pull the jacket off another flash came. And another. And another. He screamed as he began to burn alive.

Helia strode towards him, with nothing but murder on her mind.

"Stupid little boy" she said, ash falling from her fingertips.

Anders' only response was to keep screaming and try to drag himself towards the harbour, before Helia grabbed his collar and pulled him away.

A blast of frost and chilling wind swept across the pair of them. An even colder one followed. Helia turned to see a huge ball of ice enter her field of vision, it shattered as it hit her temple.

More cold wind and snow fell on Anders as the fire consuming him finally went out.

"Helia, help me!" came a call from Hans, his voice betraying the fear he felt inside. Helia rubbed her head and arced her arms in front of her, creating a semicircle of fire between herself and Elsa that looped around, encircling the snow queen.

"Elsa!" Anna called. Elsa shielded her eyes and desperately tried to cut an icy path through the flames to reach her sister.

By the time she'd managed to make them dissipate, there was no sign of Hans.

No sign of Helia.

No sign of Anna.

Just a ship making its way out to open sea, beyond her reach.

Anna was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter, sorry. Had a lot of stuff going on this weekend, it's not been fun.<strong>

**Sorry for about the eleventy billionth cliffhanger, I do that too much.**


	19. Chapter 19

"That has to have been the stupidest thing I've ever seen anyone do" Elsa said quietly. She reached out to take Anders' right hand, before retracting it. It was painfully obvious of how it matched his left. He tried to lift his head and she flinched as he reached up to take her left hand in his right.

She breathed in heavily as she placed her free hand on his head

He coughed slightly and attempted to sit up. His hair was near enough all burned away, and as Elsa ran her hand through it, almost any she touched came off, forming a blackened ring below him. His voice was quiet, and slightly hoarse.

"Hey, I guess I'm just a little broken."

Elsa half smiled as she breathed out.

"Well, I guess I could try and fix you."

"It doesn't matter, I did the right thing. I just messed up, and I'm sorry."

Elsa created a thick blanket of snow to surround him, in an attempt to give him somewhere comfortable to lie. She glanced behind her and thought of the dome.

_Shatter. _

* * *

><p>Kristoff didn't know quite how long he'd been he'd been punching the doors for. His knuckles were raw and scratched and he refused to acknowledge anyone since he'd heard Anna had gone missing.<p>

"I'm sorry Anna" he said out loud as he slumped against the doors, finally giving in. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Courage Kristoff, all will be well, if only you have a little faith."

Kristoff didn't know quite how long he'd been listening to Pabbie'sadvice for. Presumably his whole life. But it had always made sense and made sense, and made him feel better. This time however, he didn't feel anything. He just wanted Anna back.

Pabbie's brows drew together when Kristoff moved the hand off him.

"Look" he said in the quietest voice possible.

Kristoff stared dumbly upwards as a paper thin crack began making its way from the centre of the dome high above the pinnacle ofArendelle castle, snaking its way down toward the doors, with smaller cracks branching off in every direction.

He climbed to his feet as the crack drew level with his eyes and made it's way down the door, branching off into hundreds of smaller splinters in the surface of the ice, with the first one sliding down the centre where it had been sealed shut, perfectly straight.

Then there was a loud crashing sound.

As suddenly as it had formed, the dome began to crumble. Huge chunks of ice began to fall, one dashed against the top of a tower and split into jagged spikes. The citizens still stood in the courtyard began to scream and panic at the sight as Kristoff attempted to shield Pabbie, who pushed him away. As Kristoff braced himself an oddly pleasant cold sensation passed over him.

When he opened his eyes he saw that the whole castle was nearly knee deep in snow. No one was hurt. Surprised maybe. And definitely cold. But not hurt. He glanced at Pabbie, who was looking around in admiration.

"That girl really is something special isn't she?" Pabbie said nodded without saying anything as he brushed snow out of his hair. Kai jogged through the main gates as Kristoff stepped to the edge of the bridge, now split in two where the ice had formed. The far edge was jagged, and covered in ash.

Kristoff leaned tentatively over the edge as the water below began to freeze solid. He turned at the sound of his name being called and saw ten men accompanying Kai, along with Sven and Olaf. They all stared blankly at him, and he realised that not for the first time, he was the one being looked to for orders.

"We, uh..." he began slowly, before glancing behind him, "We need to find some way of repairing this bridge" he continued, gaining a sense of composure and control.

"You heard the boy," Kai said, "find some planks or something, anything, quickly!" as he waved his hands at them, before turning back to Kristoff.

"We'll find them Kristoff, don't you worry" Kai said quietly.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry I tried to hurt you. I believed you were helping Hans. Truly"<p>

"Well the thing about my family is." Anders said quietly, breaking into a cough.

"... they're liars?" Elsa smiled.

"Not to you" he croaked.

Elsa moved her hand around to lift his head up, now only populated by a few curly strands in a sea of baldness. He groaned as she touched some tender areas. Elsa blew a haze of cool air over him. She held his shoulder in his other hand.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, I promise I'll fix you."

"Don't, not now" Anders said quietly.

Elsa looked at him as he opened his eyes.

"Your majesty!" came a guard's shout.

Elsa turned her head to see at least twenty guards run out, accompanied by Kai and Gerda, several well built villagers, Kristoff,Olaf, Sven, and sat astride Sven, Grand Pabbie.

"Don't try and fix me now. Do the right thing. Go get... go get Anna back" Anders said quietly.

Elsa looked around the square. The sun was beginning to fade as a few snowflakes landed on piles of ash around them. It made for an odd combination. The white snow falling on the black ash, lining the entire square. Several of the guards running towards them slowed to take in the scenes of destruction around them.

"Elsa" came Kristoff's shout as he was the first one to reach them. He stood over the pair of them as he stared blankly at Anders' burnt form. Olaf appeared next and didn't hold his nerve quite so well. Elsasoftly placed her hand over his mouth before he said something less than correct in the situation. She gave him a small smile.

"Later Olaf" she said softly as the rest of the group finally caught up.

"Help me down" came Pabbie's voice as one of the guards reached up and groaned under the troll's weight. "Oh dear, is the boy okay?"

Anders only groaned in response.

"Queen Elsa," one of the guards said gruffly, "what should we do with him?"

"One moment" Elsa said quietly, before turning to Kristoff. "Hans took her" she said quietly.

"Took her?" Kristoff said indignantly. His face flashed with anger for a second and Elsa looked down at her hands. "Then we'll get her back" he said quietly.

"How?" Elsa snapped as she pointed at the harbour. There had been four, maybe five ships docked in there, with another twenty floating out in the fjord. And not a single one was in seaworthy condition. Charred hulls and cracked masts creaked and swayed in the cold winter wind as the water began to freeze.

"We'll think of something" Kristoff said reassuringly. Elsa nodded twice, before turning to Kai. She noticed Grand Pabbie examining Anders lying on the ground.

"Pabbie, can you heal him?"

He looked him up and down twice before turning to Elsa.

"I will do what I can"

"Okay then. Take him back to my chambers. Give Pabbie all the help he needs" Elsa said to Kai. He nodded and gestured at two guards.

"Find the poor boy a stretcher."

Elsa turned back to Kristoff.

"Hey it's alright" he said as he opened his arms, "I know you wouldn't have given anything less than your all to protect Anna." he continued as he reached around her.

And with that, Elsa buried her face into Kristoff's arms and started to cry.

* * *

><p>Anna stirred in a sumptuous red chair. Cherry red, she thought. Her head hurt. Badly. As she tried to reach up to feel her head her wrist jerked against something sharply. She looked wide eyed to see her wrist manacled to the chair arm, preventing her from moving her arms at all. Her legs were the same.<p>

"Hans" came an oddly accented voice, "She's awake" Anna adjusted her eyes to the darkness. She saw a trailing black cape and shocking red hair cross her path and felt a slender finger probe her chin. It burned. "I'll be seeing you later my little spring sapling" came the voice again, before she felt a stinging sensation as the owner of the voice blew ash in her face.

She screwed her eyes shut and felt a glare come from the side before hearing a door slam shut.

"Here" came a soft voice as she felt a cold flannel wipe her eyes and face. She became very aware of the bobbing sensation moving up and down she felt.

"We're on a ship" she said out loud without meaning to. There was a low chuckle in response as she heard the second person hobble away from her and slump into another chair. He lit a small lantern and hung it above his head.

"Yes Anna, we are" came the reply.

Anna snapped her head upright and blinked the water out of her eyes.

"Hans!" she hissed as he blew out the match he'd used to light the lantern. The smell of smoke filled the air in from of her. She attempted to kick free but was met with a jarring pain in her broken leg.

"You can kick all you like Anna, but those were made for holding Elsa. You won't get free of them."

Anna only pulled harder as Hans reached over to a glass of wine on an end table next to him. She kept kicking with her good leg and tugging at the manacles attached to her wrist as Hans sipped his wine.

"Anna please stop being so childish." He said. His tone wasn't mocking. It was like that of a parent speaking to a child who'd done something wrong. She was reminded of the way her own parents would talk to her when she'd broken a suit or armour. Or damaged a painting. She gave up struggling and looked around.

The cabin she was in was luxurious to say the least. The bed in the corner was colossal, with posts at the corners stretching from the roof to the floor. There were several pillows piled upon it, all a deep shade of burgundy. Red curtains were drawn across the windows, stopping all the light getting in. They appeared to be made of velvet. The desk, made of dark wood, had small golden items scattered all over it. An ornate feather quill, a high backed red chair behind it.

While all around her the near black wood was carved into ornate patterns, some resembled dragons or wolves and lions fighting, others were intricate vines and plants curling their way along with skirting boards and rafters.

"What is this place?" she asked timidly.

Hans calmly placed his wine glass back down and wiped his lips.

"The younger brothers in my family didn't get much. I barely got anything. This ship belonged to my oldest brother, crown princeNicklas."

Anna frowned slightly as he tapped his fingers together. The half light he was in shrouded half of his face in darkness making his features difficult to read.

"What are you planning on doing with me."

He sighed and stroked one of his sideburns.

"You know Anna, I don't know any more. And even if I did I suppose I wouldn't tell you. It seems that every time I tell you a plan things have a habit of going wrong."

Anna noticed for the first time that his leg was bandaged up as he struggled to stand, placing all his weight on his good leg. He reached around for a cane topped with the head of a wolf.

"Third times the charm?" Anna said raising an eyebrow.

Hans chuckled silently.

"So sweet Anna. So naive about everything. So easy to manipulate." He pursed his lips and paused for a second. "I really would have gone through with the marriage you know. And made you happy. You'd have given me a kingdom without even knowing it and I'd have repaid you a thousandfold." he said slowly, before pushing open the door to the cabin.

Anna's eyes narrowed as she leaned forwards in the chair. He turned and hobbled out.

"Hans...wait!" she shouted after him as the door closed.

"Where to Prince Hans?" a sailor said as the young Southern Islander closed the doors. He ran his gloved fingers around the wolf's head and breathed heavily through his nose.

"We'll make for Helsborg on the Western Isles. They'll buy her there." he said as he looked out to see. There were clouds forming on the horizon. Dark clouds. He climbed the steps to the wheel and looked in the direction they'd sailed from. Dark heavy clouds were settling overArendelle.

"Storms a-comin your highness" the sailor at the helm said to him.

Hans sneered into the distance.

"Well we'll be ready when she does."

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the long wait between updates guys. Things have been going down. And I'm lazy. Bit of a bad combination. Enjoy<strong>


	20. Chapter 20

**So my exams are over and I'm hoping to have this finished by the end of July, thanks for bearing with the wait**

* * *

><p>Kristoff stood towering over Anders' sleeping form, lying on the queen's bed.<p>

"How many times is that in one day he's going to have woken up in here?" he asked her.

"Three" Elsa replied flatly, staring out into the courtyard. Several people were returning from the village with timbers left somewhat unburnt for use as firewood. Others had been retrieving food from winter stores left untouched by the flames due to their underground locations.

"Elsa, they need a leader...these people. It should be you, not those lords you've had doing your job for you." Kristoff said quietly.

"I don't care," she replied sharply. Kristoff blinked twice and opened his mouth to respond but she cut him off, "I don't care about any of those lords, I don't care about any of those people right now. I only care about one thing. And you know what that is."

Kristoff hadn't expected her to be so hostile.

"Well Elsa, I'm sure we'll get the ships repaired. Or someone will bring a new one, or-"

"And then what Kristoff?" she interrupted again, "How far will Hans have gotten with her by then? Where do we start looking? I got her back and she took her away from me,"

Elsa rubbed her eyes. She'd changed from her ash stained dress into an outfit more reminiscent of her coronation dress, though more open and lacking the cape. Her neckline came down low displaying her freshly bandaged shoulder and a large bruise across her collarbone.

Kristoff placed his hand on her shoulder.

"We'll think of something Elsa, don't worry."

He nervously noted the ice creeping up the window pane as she gripped his wrist and pulled it off. Her fingernails dug in far more than he was expecting and he winced.

"I'm going to the gardens Kristoff," she said quietly before turning towards the door.

"You like him don't you?" he said. She stopped mid-step.

"I don't know if I do," she replied.

"Do you think you do?"

Elsa fiddled with her own fingers for a moment and bit her lip as she pondered her answer.

"He reminds me of Anna," she finally said.

"That's not an answer Elsa," Kristoff said as he folded his arms. She glanced at Anders, then back to Kristoff.

"No," she replied with the smallest of smiles.

"This is about what the council keeps telling you isn't it? This is so you don't ever have to tell Anna,"

Elsa blinked twice, before leaving without saying a word, closing the door to her bedroom quietly.

"What aren't you telling Anna?" came a hoarse voice from behind Kristoff that made him jump as he span around and instinctively raised his fists, before lowering them when he saw Anders looking at him with one eye and rubbing the other.

"How long have you been awake?" Kristoff asked defensively

"Long enough," he replied as he attempted to sit up before doubling over in a coughing fit. Kristoff reached for a pitcher of water on the end table and filled him a glass.

"Pabbie says your lungs have been damaged by the ash Helia produced," Kristoff said quietly as he passed Anders the glass before walking back over to the window. Anders examined the glass curiously. It looked expensive, or at least had been made with painstaking effort. The crocus emblem of Arendelle had been blown into the base of it. His coughing soothed as he sipped the water. Ice cold.

"So what aren't you telling your dearly beloved?" he asked before taking another sip. Kristoff pursed his lips indignantly.

"It's not any of your business." he replied. Anders snorted.

"If you're getting married the only secret you should have is what you're going to say to her at the altar. And possibly that you don't like her mother,"

"Her mother died over three years ago,"

"Okay that was insensitive, but the point is you love this girl right? Why would you keep anything from her?" Anders continued as he lay back down and massaged one of his temples with his good arm.

"Because the queen told me to." Kristoff replied matter-of-factly before turning around and looking down at him. "Why do you like the queen?"

"I don't know," came the quiet reply, "it wasn't exactly a love at first sight thing, she made me fall-" he continued before coughing slightly.

"You love her?" Kristoff said loudly with a touch of disbelief.

"No, of course not, I barely know her, what you think I'd ask her to marry me right here and now?"

_Well from what I know of Southern Islanders_

"No," Kristoff said, "So what do you think when you look at her?"

"Don't look at her and just sort of think that she's far from perfect, but that somehow makes her the most perfect person in the world and you don't know why?" Anders mumbled before coughing. Some ash spilled up from his mouth, he didn't register it settling on his collar.

Kristoff glanced at him before returning his gaze to the window.

_I wish Pabbie would hurry up_

"Not Elsa." he said wistfully.

"Have you ever looked at someone in just the right way? Maybe you didn't start off on the best of terms, but you just want to take a chance on them. Something in the back of your head telling you that you could not, but a bigger voice drowning it out telling you to go for it?"

Kristoff smiled. Anders was reckless and didn't think his actions through particularly well. He'd gotten into a fight with Hans while a fire sorceress had been stood twenty feet away from him. He'd dived off the castle walls after almost no thinking. He was fondly reminded of when Anna had pulled him off the North Mountain, and when she'd thrown a snowball at Marshmallow.

Anna. Only Anna. She's all that matters

"Yes." he replied quietly. Anders coughed violently before finishing his water and puring himself another, "It's like you're telling me about my own feelings for Anna," Kristoff continued, "Which reminds me. Anna would have thrown herself in front of a volcano to save Elsa. Why'd you put yourself in danger like that?"

"I don't know why I did it," he began, coughing violently again, "it just seemed like... the right thing..."

Kristoff turned around as his breathing became more laboured and he began blowing out dust with every cough.

"Pabbie," Kristoff said under his breath and turned for the door, which opened, as if on cue, to reveal Pabbie and Bulda waddling in, Bulda holding several bottles in her chunky hands.

"Goodness," Pabbie exclaimed as he quickened his pace and clambered onto the bed with an uncharacteristic lack of grace, "Kristoff, hold him still for me, Bulda, pass me the green bottle," he blustered, placing his hand on Anders' temple.

* * *

><p>"No wind your highness," came a voice from behind Hans. He pivoted awkwardly placing all his weight on the cane in his left hand to find himself facing the bare chest of a sailor a head taller than him.<p>

"No," he replied bitterly. For the past hour the sea had been perfectly calm and their ship had barely moved an inch. "Seems if we were sailing the way our ancestors had designed we'd at least be able to row."

The sailor broke into a throaty laugh. He had a huge walrus like moustache and his thin black hair on his scalp was showing signs of balding.

"Aye if we had a longship we'd be there in no time, no choice but to wait it out. You're sure it's not your witch friend messing with the weather?"

Hans' eyes narrowed at the man in front of him. He decided against hitting him, it probably wasn't ever a good idea to strike a man with pectoral muscles the size of your head.

"I'll go and see if there's anything she can do," he muttered, before slowly making his way towards the bow of the ship. He passed men in red cloaks tending their wounds. A few sailors dressed in the bright blues and pinks that Southern Islanders had become known for wearing. Two sat drinking ale on a wooden carving of a rearing wolf.

"I know why you're here Hans," came Helia's voice as he passed the furthest forwards of three masts. She stood eating slice of pork, so thoroughly cooked it could only be described as burnt. "I'm not the one taking the winds away, I can't make your brothers ship-"

"My ship," Hans interrupted, "I had the men paid to steal it. I sailed it away from the Isles and took you with it. Mine."

"Your ship," Helia sneered in reply, "This wind isn't me. You don't have to worry, there wasn't a single ship left in Arendelle. It'll be weeks before they've repaired one," she sniffed and took another bite, "or," she continued through her mouthful of food, "they'll ride to another port and buy one. Either way they'll still take days."

Hans looked at her disdainfully.

"Don't speak with your mouth full," he muttered, turning away. She spat a piece of chewed up food at him in response. It landed on the deck in front of him, missing his shoe by less than an inch.

"Go play with your toy or something Hans, she must be far more bored than you are,"

* * *

><p>Anna had spent almost every moment since Hans had locked her in attempting to pull her arms free from the manacles enclosing her hands with little to show for it but chafed wrists, so she found it difficult to act anything but dumbstruck when a skinny boy who looked no older than twelve walked in and unlocked both wrist cuffs before placing a small tray on her lap and leaving the room without saying a word.<p>

"Sandwiches," she said to herself as Hans pushed his way past the young boy and settled back into the chair across from her. Her eyes narrowed at him. "Poison Hans? Is that how you're planning to do it?"

Hans chuckled for a second and pulled his sword from his belt. Anna flinched and braced herself against the back of her seat but to her surprise he merely delicately sliced both sandwiches on the plate in front of her in to and proceeded to take half of each, hobbling back to his chair.

"Not poison Anna, food," he said dryly as ate one of the half sandwiches, dabbing at his mouth with a wine red silk handkerchief. "I'm not planning on killing you."

"What are you planning on then?" she replied. He chuckled again.

"We're going to play a little game Anna. There's some things I want to know and I imagine you know them, so every question you ask and get an answer for, I get to ask a question, and you have to answer. Deal?"

Anna picked at the food in front of her. The bread looked soft, one appeared to be filled with smoked ham, the other might have been herring. Hans clearly wanted something. He was grinning from ear to ear. She looked him over. Everything he wore was immaculate, his manners were refined, his posture was regal. His hair & sideburns looked so out of place. It was oddly disturbing.

"Deal, but only if I get to ask the first question." she replied. Hans' smile wilted for a second and his brow furrowed, before he leaned forwards. The ship creaked for a second as he paused.

"Go on then."

"Tell me about your brothers. Properly."

Hans raised an eyebrow as he leaned on the wolf's head cane.

"You have one sibling, I have twelve. I don't think that's a fair trade."

"Nicklas then," Anna said without thinking.

Hans stroked the top of the cane thoughtfully.

"Most other kingdoms around here always found Arendelle's crest laughable. Western Islanders blazon their arms with a pair of battle axes. Having a flower was always an amusement to some of us," he laughed, "I was always quite fond of the wolf of the Southern Isles. There's a saying that we come from the line of the gods who bound the giant wolf Fenrir."

"I said tell me about your brothers, not heraldry." Anna interrupted, glaring at him. "And it's a crocus" she added without thinking. Hans snorted with derision.

"They call my oldest brother the red wolf. He's closer to my father's age than mine since he's nearly fifty, I'd give it a few more years before my lord father, long may he reign, dies and he's crowned king of the Southern Isles. And oh what a wonderful day that will be." Hans mused, "Some people believe in the divine right of kings, that they're born to rule. Nicklas definitely is. He's been taught to rule for almost four decades. I wouldn't say much the same of his oldest son. There'll be chaos when Nicklas finally decides to bite the dust."

He paused and glanced at Anna for a few moments before casting his gaze at the empty desk chair.

"He always liked red. He became known for wearing it around court. I recall for one of his birthdays when I was younger I painted him a wolf using only reds. Not that he appreciated it much. He only ever seemed to like things mother and father gave him. The horses, the ceremonial swords," he paused, "This damn ship. Everything was made just for him. And how I hated him... well I guess this explains all the red doesn't it Anna?"

"Why do you hate him then? Just because he got gifts and you didn't?" she asked him. Hans snorted again.

"He never cared about me," came the reply, "Too many siblings and children of his own to pay attention to. You think there's just thirteen of us? Nicklas has half a dozen children all ahead of me in the line of succession. So do almost all of them. I spent more time with my nieces and nephews than my own siblings. I'm pretty sure I was even named after one" He breathed out heavily, brooding on what he'd just said. "Your turn then Anna. Elsa could barely make a snow demon twice the size of a man and just keep two mercenaries away from her the last time I was here. Now I see her making beasts the size of a castle tower and holding off an entire force sacking her city. When did she gain so much more power? Forgive my manner of speaking but this attack was supposed to be a walkover."

"She's always had that much power Hans, she was just scared the last time," Anna said.

He gave her a lopsided grin, malicious and mocking.

"Don't lie to me Anna, not when I played the game so well and told you everything you asked so nicely."

Anna blew her fringe away from her face in irritation.

"Think about it. You saw what she did when she was scared, the first time I saw her. Now imagine what she can do when she's not scared. Actually you don't have to, she told me about how you came up to her palace in the mountains. I want you to imagine what she can do when she's angry. When she's focused. When she's fighting for other people, not just herself. I've seen her make the most intricate and delicate creations without breaking a sweat. So what makes you think she wouldn't be capable of holding you off if your fire witch hadn't been there?"

Hans didn't say anything for a while. And for once Anna found herself trapped in a silence she didn't break with her own awkward ramblings. His eyes never moved from hers, there was nothing but the sounds of the ship creaking as it shifted on the occasional wave.

"That makes a lot of sense, your turn then." he said finally, leaning back in satisfaction.

Anna fell silent again. After all what did she want to ask him?

"Come on then Anna, I'll take my turn of the game if you don't hurry up," Hans chuckled. She pouted at him, which only seemed to encourage his laughter.

"How did you find her?" Anna snapped. Hans abruptly stopped laughing.

"Her? As in Helia?" he replied. Anna nodded. "I never asked what country she'd come from. Maybe she's from Austria, or to be honest she could have come from any of the territories that the Holy Roman Empire spat out. She sounds similar to a duke from Krakow who stayed at our court for two years," Hans said. Anna rolled her eyes slightly when she realised this must be how she sounded when she rambled on.

"The fourth brother in my family, Vibald, always had a strange fascination with magic. I recall he told me the story of the heir to a small kingdom whose golden hair stretched for miles and could bring a person back from the dead. Of course when I asked him to prove the only portrait he had of her was one with brown hair that barely reached her shoulders." he continued, staring wistfully into the air.

Anna smirked.

"I never took you for a lover of fairy tales Hans."

"Yes you did, when we first met, but that's not important because I was lying," he responded sharply.

Anna's face reddened as she sank backwards into the chair.

"So when I tell one of my closest friends, or at least someone willing to let me rot in a cell and not do a thing to help me just so he can keep his cushy position at court, about my plans for marrying the queen of Arendelle to get myself a kingdom. And then when word spread about Elsa after I returned and was thrown in some godforsaken tower, Magnus came and found me. He told me he was most curious about Elsa, and he believed there was a way we could satisfy each others desires."

Hans licked his lips as he paused for a second. There was a glint in his eyes, Anna thought he looked deranged as he leaned forward and gave a smile baring his teeth.

"He'd found Helia months before and had been studying her abilities in his home outside the capital. He asked me if I wanted freedom. And revenge. And conquering. I answered yes. He left, and the next day the guards were dead, my cell was open and the whole wing of the castle was on fire."

Anna shivered slightly as she recalled the burns along Anders' arm.

"What? Scared of a fairy tale Anna?" he asked as he reclined and picked up a goblet of wine beside his chair.

"Anders was there. That man who stabbed you. He told me he was there that day the wing of the castle burned down. Your brother had come to see you."

"I have a lot of brothers Anna," Hans replied sarcastically as he twirled the goblet and took a sip. Red wine dribbled from the corner of his mouth and caught on the hairs of one of his sideburns.

"The one his sister is married to," Anna said. Hans shrugged derisively as he placed the goblet back down empty. "Eleven."

Hans' eyes widened. He stirred uncomfortably in the chair.

"Jon," he said quietly, "Jon wouldn't have come to see me out of any great love. Jon got mocked by every older brother and was barely 9 months older than Erik. He loved making my life hell... well I guess that's what he got if he went to the castle. Did he die? In the fire I mean."

Anna was unnerved by the way Hans' eyes seemed to light up at the prospect of his brother burning to death.

"I don't think so," she replied, attempting to gauge his reaction. His expression didn't seem to change much.

"Alright then, my turn," Hans said as he refilled his wine goblet, "I know how Arendelle's been working for three years. A small council of lords each with a small responsibility to keep the nation running while Elsa shut herself in away from them all."

"What are they all doing now? Surely they can't have handed over governance of the entire realm to a young girl who nearly froze them all to death. I was there after all, and they weren't, probably off swanning about in one of those mountain villages you all reign over."

"I don't know Hans," Anna replied.

"Okay Anna I explained how the game works," Hans said mockingly with a hint of anger in his voice.

"I. Don't. Know." Anna repeatedly forcefully, "Elsa and I talk about a lot of things. We have almost every meal together, except when I oversleep and miss breakfast. We discuss what she can do with her powers, we spent a lot of time working through preparations for the wedding. But she keeps me separate from everything to do with running the kingdom."

Hans kicked the chair back and drew himself up to as close to his full height as leaning on his cane would allow.

"You have one older sister who wouldn't pay attention to you," he said coldly, "I had twelve brothers who didn't just ignore me. They made fun of me, they put me down, some broke my toys, others ignored me. Nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, my own damned parents. None of them cared." he continued, raising the volume of his voice as he closed in on her, "Over twenty years of no one caring while you were raised in a warm and loving environment with just one person ignoring you while everyone else will have doted on your every whim. The happy-go-lucky, bubbly, charming, naive second princess of Arendelle." Anna ducked her head as Hans bared down on her.

"So tell me then princess, since you're not playing the game right and I get another go," he snarled, "How would this hypothetical situation have gone: I married you and make you the happiest young bride in Arendelle. I'd have bided my time, maybe waited till we had a song, then killed your sister. In an accident, no one would have known. Queen Anna of Arendelle, her children to rule the lands of her forefathers forever. Would that have made you happy?"

Hans kicked out viciously as her broken leg. Anna cried out involuntarily and felt tears begin to slide from her eyes as she clenched her fists in an attempt to numb the pain.

"Would it princess?" he yelled as he kicked again, "Would it?"

She looked up and stared into his eyes. Her own teal ones now red and puffy. He was breathing heavily and his own looked oddly bloodshot, like he hadn't slept in days. He glared at her.

"Nothing you could ever do will ever make anyone happy. You'll never be loved."

Hans seethed. His face began to turn a shade of red as she stared him down. In a split second his face turned to a sneer as he slapped her across the face with the back of his hand. Hard. As she turned her face back towards him he swung a fist that connected with her jaw.

Anna saw red as blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth. Hans angrily swung around and hobbled towards the door.

"Hans." Anna said calmly. He stopped dead, refusing to turn around.

"What?" he replied in the quietest of voices.

"She's not a young girl. She's a strong woman. She's more powerful than you'll ever be able to comprehend. And she'll come for you."

Hans spat on the floor as he resumed his walk towards the door and pulled it open. Anna screwed up her face as light flooded the dim room.

"Enjoy the Western Isles Anna," he said mockingly as he slammed the door and locked it, leaving Anna back in darkness.

"She'll come," Anna murmured to herself as she brought a hand to her head feeling dazed. Her eyelids fluttered. "Elsa... will come... "

* * *

><p>"Hey Elsa, look all the snow that's come back!"<p>

Elsa had spent a good ten minutes lying perfectly still in the snow in the gardens, watching all the snowflakes fall. She could see the windows of the palace with all the curtains drawn to keep the heat in, grateful that none of her subjects could see her. And then she'd spotted the remains of the snowman Anna had built earlier.

It had melted somewhat in the sun that had seared down on the palace that morning, losing it's shape. She whimsically wiggled her fingers and watched the melted lumps slide gracefully into the air and take a slim human form, hands clasped regally in front of a summer dress leading up to freckled cheeks and hair done in two braids.

Elsa wiped away a tear forming in the corner of her eye, then jumped at the sound of Olaf's voice, and her sculpture of Anna dropped to the ground almost instantly. She sighed as Olaf waded through the snow towards her with a smile on his face. He hugged her leg fondly. She placed one hand around him and pulled him tight as the nails of her other hand dug into her braid nervously.

"When are you going to bring Anna back?" he said looking up at her as she stared into the distance. She looked down at him and wiped the tears away with her hand before crouching down.

"Olaf I can't go and get her, and right now I don't know if I'll ever see her again," Elsa said quietly.

"Well sure you can, just get on a ship and sail after her," he replied brightly. She sighed and lowered her head.

"No Olaf, we don't have any ships. Can't you understand that we don't have any way of crossing the sea."

"Well why don't you freeze the sea?" he replied.

"Because I-" Elsa began before pausing. She could freeze the sea. Maybe. Not the whole sea surely.

"I mean I know you could do it, and then you and all your guards could go out on those sleds you all have and ride forward and bring Anna back like sled riding angels across a sea of icy mountains all in time for the wedding."

Elsa's mouth hung open for a second.

"You really think I could do that?" she asked quietly.

"Yup!" Olaf replied instantly.

Elsa stared at him for a second before standing up and brushing the snow off below her knees.

"Olaf I want you to go and find two guards. Tell one of them to find Kristoff and get him to meet me on the castle walls, tell the other to round up as many guards and volunteers as they can to find horses that can pull sleds on ice," she said authoritatively "Horses or reindeer," she added quickly.

"Okay!" he said, jumping and spinning around with such vigour that his head flew up for a split second and he began to race as fast as his legs would allow him towards the other end of the gardens.

* * *

><p>Kristoff sat on the end of Elsa's bed listening to Anders breathe heavily. He'd stopped coughing now though his breaths still came loud and wheezing.<p>

"So then," he said coughing, "what are-"

"Pabbie said you weren't to talk or it would aggravate the healing," Kristoff interrupted looking back at him. Anders sighed loudly and jabbed him in the back with his foot. "Let me guess you still want to know what I'm keeping from Anna?"

Anders smiled slightly as he leaned his head back.

"Fine. The council were told by the late king that if anything were to happen to him when Elsa wasn't able to rule by herself they had two concerns, the first being the stability and safety of Arendelle, and the second was both his daughters' happiness." Kristoff began, his tone getting more and more angry, " And now that Elsa's got a stable realm they want her to marry so she can have an heir or have Anna and our future children schooled in ruling so that they can follow her. And Elsa doesn't want to force any responsibility on Anna. Is that what you wanted to hear, are you happy?"

Anders coughed in response. Then there was another cough from behind. Kristoff looked back to see Kai, two serving girls and a guard stood in the doorway.

"The queen has requested you meet her up on the walls Kristoff," Kai said quietly. Kristoff gave a slight nod before pointing back at Anders.

"Make sure he drinks plenty of water before Pabbie gets back, and go get him straight away if he starts coughing up ash again."

Kai nodded and gestured for one of the girls to refill the glass jug on the end table.

* * *

><p>"Elsa, what are you doing up here?" Kristoff asked nervously. The wind had picked up, as had the snow, and he shivered, having neglected to put on any warmer clothes. Kai, dressed more appropriately for the cold, followed him up.<p>

"When you found Anna in the mountains, she didn't have a clue about how she was going to find me did she?" Elsa asked. She hadn't turned to face him, she was making snowflakes dance in the palm of her hand as she faced the sea. "She would come and get me anyway, no matter how hard."

"I think you already know the answer to that Elsa," Kristoff quipped in response with a small smile. Elsa nodded before closing her eyes and stretching out her left hand. There was a tremendous roar followed by a cracking sound as the sea began to freeze, the field of ice expanding rapidly from the walls, catching the crests of several waves. Kristoff gasped as ice continued to spread faster than his eyes could keep up, until it spread beyond the horizon.

Elsa's shoulders began to move up and down as her breaths became heavier and more laboured before she finally lowered her arm after what had felt like an agonising amount of time.

"Do you think you caught the ship?" Kristoff asked.

Elsa looked back at her hand.

"I don't know."

"Your majesty," came a shout from the courtyard below where several guards and men from Arendelle were gathering along with stable hands and ice harvesters, "what are your orders."

Elsa turned and leaned over to look down on them.

"I am not here to tell you what to do as a queen, I am here to ask for your help as a sister. I'm am going to take one of the sleds you have been ordered to prepare and venture out onto the ice to find and rescue Princess Anna. Will anyone here help me?"

There was silence for a second before a harvester gave a shout. And a guard. Almost in unison every man in the square shouted.

"Aye!"

"Yes your majesty!"

"Hear hear!"

"You wouldn't ever have to ask," came a quiet voice from her side as Kristoff placed his hand on her shoulder. She smiled before turning towards the sea.

"Lets go find my sister,"

* * *

><p>"This is impossible, melt it. Now!"<p>

Hans practically knocked Helia overboard as he shoved her aggressively. She shot several jets of flame at different spots on the ice that had engulfed the ship and frozen it in place, stretching out as far as the eye could see.

Helia raised an eyebrow at him as she raised one hand to his face and cupped his cheek.

"Hans my darling, my lord, my prince," she began with a sweet smile, before her expression wilted and he recoiled sharply, his face burning where it had come into contact with her, "don't ever touch me like that again," she snapped, before blasting the ice a few metres from the ship with huge balls of black fire, to no avail.

Hans turned his head to look east, back towards Arendelle. He fingered his sword nervously.

"She can't. She just... can't,"

* * *

><p><strong>So yeah...thanks for waiting for me to get this all written and stuff<strong>

**Also I literally just turned 20, yay me.**

**I hope all your lives are going great and...stuff...yeah**


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